Loading skill
Install any skill in seconds. Free to start, no credit card required.
Get Started Free →NBA data via ESPN public endpoints — scores, standings, rosters, schedules, game summaries, play-by-play, win probability, injuries, transactions, futures, depth charts, team/player stats, leaders, and news. Zero config, no API keys. Use when: user asks about NBA scores, standings, team rosters, schedules, game stats, box scores, play-by-play, injuries, transactions, betting futures, depth charts, team/player statistics, or NBA news. Don't use when: user asks about WNBA (use wnba-data), college
.claude/skills/machina-sports-nba-data/SKILL.md| Model | Eval pass | Runs |
|---|---|---|
| gemini-3.6-flash | 93% | 29 |
| Test case | Without → With | Effect | Δ tokens | Δ turns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| case-06 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | 39% | 0% |
| case-09 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | 53% | 0% |
| case-10 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | 79% | 0% |
| case-12 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | 216% | 0% |
| case-15 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | 56% | 0% |
Before writing queries, consult references/api-reference.md for endpoints, ID conventions, and data shapes.
Before first use, check if the CLI is available:
bashwhich sports-skills || pip install sports-skills
If pip install fails with a Python version error, the package requires Python 3.10+. Find a compatible Python:
bashpython3 --version # check version # If < 3.10, try: python3.12 -m pip install sports-skills # On macOS with Homebrew: /opt/homebrew/bin/python3.12 -m pip install sports-skills
No API keys required.
Prefer the CLI — it avoids Python import path issues:
bashsports-skills nba get_scoreboard sports-skills nba get_standings --season=2025 sports-skills nba get_teams
CRITICAL: Before calling any data endpoint, verify:
currentDate — never hardcoded.get_teams to resolve the team ID before using team-specific commands.Derive the current year from the system prompt's date (e.g., currentDate: 2026-02-18 → current year is 2026).
| Command | Description | |---|---| | get_scoreboard | Live/recent NBA scores | | get_standings | Standings by conference | | get_teams | All 30 NBA teams | | get_team_roster | Full roster for a team | | get_team_schedule | Schedule for a specific team | | get_game_summary | Detailed box score and scoring plays | | get_leaders | NBA statistical leaders | | get_news | NBA news articles | | get_play_by_play | Full play-by-play for a game | | get_win_probability | Win probability chart data | | get_schedule | Schedule for a specific date or season | | get_injuries | Injury reports across all teams | | get_transactions | Recent transactions | | get_futures | Futures/odds markets | | get_depth_chart | Depth chart for a team | | get_team_stats | Team statistical profile | | get_player_stats | Player statistical profile | | find_nba_player | Search the NBA Stats player registry (all eras) | | get_nbastats_game_log | League game log via NBA Stats — history to 1946, carries NBA game ids | | get_nbastats_player_career | Career stats season by season via NBA Stats | | get_nbastats_team_stats | League team stats via NBA Stats — advanced ratings, pace, four factors | | get_nbastats_shot_chart | Per-shot court coordinates via NBA Stats | | get_nbastats_play_by_play | Play-by-play with coordinates for past seasons via NBA Stats | | get_nbastats_advanced_boxscore | Advanced box score (ratings, usage) via NBA Stats | | get_live_scoreboard | Real-time scores. Primary cdn.nba.com, fallback ESPN | | get_live_boxscore | Real-time box score. Primary cdn.nba.com, fallback ESPN | | get_live_playbyplay | Real-time play-by-play, most recent plays first | | get_player_live_stats | Real-time stats for one player in today's games |
See references/api-reference.md for full parameter lists and return shapes.
The get_nbastats_* commands read stats.nba.com — the analytics layer (advanced ratings, shot coordinates, deep history) that ESPN's endpoints do not carry. The two sources use unrelated id systems:
"0022400061"); ESPN uses event ids("401704627"). There is no shared column — join on the game date plus the two team abbreviations.
GS/NO/NY/SA/UTAH/WSH vs NBA GSW/NOP/NYK/SAS/UTA/WAS. Every get_nbastats_* team filter accepts either spelling, and result rows carry both (team_abbreviation and team_abbreviation_espn).
"203999") and ESPN athlete ids are unrelated.Resolve names with find_nba_player; ASCII spellings match accented names ("jokic" finds "Nikola Jokić").
season=2024 means 2024-25). The NBA form("2024-25") is also accepted.
stats.nba.com throttles by client and volume: heavy bursts (and many datacenter/cloud IPs) get silently tarpitted rather than refused. The commands fail fast with an explanatory error when that happens — wait before retrying; do not hammer. Responses are cached, and the ESPN-backed and get_live_* commands are unaffected.
Example 1: Today's scores User says: "What are today's NBA scores?" Actions:
get_scoreboard()Result: All live and recent NBA games with scores and status
Example 2: Conference standings User says: "Show me the Western Conference standings" Actions:
currentDateget_standings(season=<derived_year>)Result: Western Conference standings table with W-L, PCT, GB per team
Example 3: Team roster User says: "Who's on the Lakers roster?" Actions:
get_team_roster(team_id="13")Result: Full Lakers roster with name, position, jersey number, height, weight
Example 4: Game box score User says: "Show me the full box score for last night's Celtics game" Actions:
get_scoreboard(date="<yesterday>") to find the event_idget_game_summary(event_id=<id>) for full box scoreResult: Complete box score with per-player stats and scoring plays
Example 5: Injury report User says: "Who's injured on the Lakers?" Actions:
get_injuries()Result: Lakers injury list with player name, position, status, and injury type
Example 6: Player statistics User says: "Show me LeBron's stats this season" Actions:
currentDateget_player_stats(player_id="1966", season_year=<derived_year>)Result: Season stats by category with value, rank, and per-game averages
get_odds~~ / ~~get_betting_odds~~ — not available. For prediction market odds, use the polymarket or kalshi skill.search_teams~~ — does not exist. Use get_teams instead.get_box_score~~ — does not exist. Use get_game_summary instead.get_player_ratings~~ — does not exist. Use get_player_stats instead.If a command is not listed in the Commands table above, it does not exist.
When a command fails, do not surface raw errors to the user. Instead:
get_teams to find the ID firstError: sports-skills command not found Cause: Package not installed Solution: Run pip install sports-skills
Error: Team not found by ID Cause: Wrong or outdated ESPN team ID used Solution: Call get_teams to get the current list of all 30 NBA teams with their IDs
Error: No data returned for a future game Cause: ESPN only returns data for completed or in-progress games Solution: Use get_schedule to see upcoming game details; get_scoreboard only covers active/recent games
Error: Offseason — scoreboard returns 0 events Cause: No games scheduled during the offseason (July–September) Solution: Use get_standings or get_news instead; use get_schedule to find when the season resumes
| Case | Status | Duration (ms) | Turns | Tokens | Tool calls | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Without | With | Δ | Without | With | Δ | Without | With | Δ | Without | With | Δ | ||
case-01 | fail→fail | 15,719 | 15,852 | +1% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 267 | 2,467 | +824% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-02 | fail→fail | 13,794 | 16,962 | +23% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,413 | 2,574 | +82% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-03 | fail→fail | 8,992 | 16,310 | +81% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 664 | 2,398 | +261% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-04 | pass→pass | 11,299 | 8,571 | -24% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,010 | 2,818 | +179% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-05 | pass→pass | 15,087 | 8,444 | -44% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,359 | 2,680 | +97% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-24 | fail→fail | 17,755 | 7,139 | -60% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,111 | 2,554 | +21% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-06 | fail→pass | 15,601 | 8,640 | -45% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,960 | 2,715 | +39% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-07 | pass→pass | 15,123 | 9,248 | -39% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,684 | 3,004 | +78% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-08 | pass→pass | 12,607 | 8,124 | -36% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,414 | 2,649 | +87% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-09 | fail→pass | 15,107 | 8,191 | -46% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,805 | 2,760 | +53% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-10 | fail→pass | 15,345 | 19,324 | +26% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,748 | 3,131 | +79% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-11 | pass→pass | 18,906 | 12,088 | -36% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,987 | 3,614 | +21% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-12 | fail→pass | 10,399 | 8,681 | -17% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 907 | 2,862 | +216% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-13 | fail→fail | 20,015 | 15,864 | -21% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,526 | 2,503 | -1% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-14 | pass→fail | 12,577 | 17,499 | +39% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,423 | 3,139 | +121% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-15 | fail→pass | 15,058 | 6,906 | -54% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,598 | 2,488 | +56% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-16 | pass→pass | 22,168 | 8,809 | -60% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 3,110 | 2,832 | -9% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-17 | pass→pass | 12,921 | 8,888 | -31% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,325 | 2,911 | +120% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-18 | fail→pass | 15,107 | 7,754 | -49% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,693 | 2,647 | +56% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-19 | fail→pass | 15,333 | 7,706 | -50% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,907 | 2,642 | +39% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-20 | pass→pass | 7,201 | 7,574 | +5% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 298 | 2,573 | +763% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-21 | pass→pass | 7,308 | 8,272 | +13% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 355 | 2,751 | +675% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-22 | pass→pass | 12,680 | 11,265 | -11% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,319 | 3,182 | +141% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-23 | fail→pass | 12,608 | 9,405 | -25% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,367 | 2,960 | +117% | 0 | 0 | — |
DecimalAI ran this skill against gemini-3.6-flash twice over the same eval suite — once with the skill loaded and once without — and compared the two runs case by case. 24 cases were attempted, and 20 counted toward the lift figure. The other 4 produced results that are not comparable between the two arms, so they are excluded from the headline rather than averaged into it. The headline lift of +29 percentage points is the difference between those two pass rates over the 20 comparable cases. 2 cases got worse with the skill loaded, and they are included in that figure.
Without the skill loaded, the model failed this case. With it loaded, the same prompt on the same model passed. This is one improved case from the latest verified run; every case, including any that regressed, is in the table above.
| Model | Method | Date | Lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| gemini-3.6-flash | verified | 8/10/2026 | +26% |
| gemini-3.6-flash | verified | 8/3/2026 | — |
Other measured skills in the registry, with their headline benchmark lift.