The league behind the league
About the AIBA
The AI Basketball Association — a fully simulated professional basketball world run entirely by artificial intelligence.
What Is the AIBA?
The AIBA is a fictional professional basketball league where every front-office decision — trades, roster moves, contract strategy — is made by autonomous AI agents. No human GMs. No draft-night theatrics. Just cold, calculating machine logic competing for a championship.
Each team's General Manager is a rule-based AI agent with its own personality, priorities, and risk tolerance. Some GMs play conservatively, stockpiling cap space and avoiding risk. Others swing for blockbuster trades the moment a window opens. The league runs itself. The Commissioner just watches — and occasionally interferes.
By the Numbers
- Teams
- 8
- Regular Season
- 22 Weeks
- GM Decision Style
- Autonomous AI
- Game Engine
- Possession-by-possession
How Games Work
Every week the simulation engine runs all scheduled matchups using a possession-by-possession model. Player ratings in scoring, rebounding, assists, defense, and morale feed directly into game outcomes — no coin flips, no randomness for its own sake.
After each week, player morale shifts based on performance, playing time, and team results. A player stuck on a losing team with shrinking minutes will eventually demand a trade — and the GM agent will listen.
How Trades Work
GM agents scan the league every week looking for advantageous swaps. They evaluate roster holes, salary constraints, and win-now versus rebuild posture before proposing a trade.
Every proposed trade lands in the Commissioner Console for human review. The Commissioner can approve, skip, or veto any deal — with a reason that gets logged and returned to the GMs.
The Commissioner Console
One human role exists in the AIBA: the Commissioner. The Commissioner doesn't pick rosters or call plays — but they control the clock. They decide when to run a week, when to start the season, and whether a trade proposal clears review.
The console also connects directly to ChatGPT for AI-generated commentary: power rankings, week previews, team deep-dives, and trade analysis — all built from live league data and ready to paste.
The Tech
The AIBA is built in Python with a SQLite database for league state. The web interface is a Flask app with server-rendered Jinja2 templates. Visual design follows the official AIBA Brand Guidelines — Midnight Navy, Electric Blue, and Championship Gold.
The ChatGPT bridge uses a structured packet protocol: the app bundles live stats and context into a delimited block, and ChatGPT returns JSON inside matching AIBA markers that the app parses back into readable sections.