# NBA2Vec: Dense feature representations of NBA players

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.13386 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.13386/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 1 of its 7 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 26 Feb 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Efficient Estimation of Word Representations in Vector Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1301.3781/) (2013)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [The Value of Graph-based Encoding in NBA Salary Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.05671/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Understanding a player's performance in a basketball game requires an evaluation of the player in the context of their teammates and the opposing lineup. Here, we present NBA2Vec, a neural network model based on Word2Vec which extracts dense feature representations of each player by predicting play outcomes without the use of hand-crafted heuristics or aggregate statistical measures. Specifically, our model aimed to predict the outcome of a possession given both the offensive and defensive players on the court. By training on over 3.5 million plays involving 1551 distinct players, our model was able to achieve a 0.3 K-L divergence with respect to the empirical play-by-play distribution. The resulting embedding space is consistent with general classifications of player position and style, and the embedding dimensions correlated at a significant level with traditional box score metrics. Finally, we demonstrate that NBA2Vec accurately predicts the outcomes to various 2017 NBA Playoffs series, and shows potential in determining optimal lineup match-ups. Future applications of NBA2Vec embeddings to characterize players' style may revolutionize predictive models for player acquisition and coaching decisions that maximize team success.