Live Games

Get all currently live basketball games with real-time scores

GET /games/current

Live Games

cURL

curl --request GET \
  --url https://v1.basketball.sportsapipro.com/games/current \
  --header 'x-api-key: <api-key>'

200

{
  "games": [
    {
      "id": 123,
      "statusText": "<string>",
      "statusGroup": 123,
      "homeCompetitor": {
        "id": 123,
        "name": "<string>",
        "score": 123,
        "imageUrl": "<string>"
      },
      "awayCompetitor": {
        "id": 123,
        "name": "<string>",
        "score": 123,
        "imageUrl": "<string>"
      },
      "competition": {
        "id": 123,
        "name": "<string>",
        "country": {
          "id": 123,
          "name": "<string>"
        },
        "hasStandings": true,
        "hasBrackets": true
      },
      "startTime": "2023-11-07T05:31:56Z"
    }
  ],
  "lastUpdateId": 123
}

V1 Legacy Endpoint — This is a V1 API endpoint. For new integrations, we recommend using the Basketball V2 API which provides richer data and more endpoints.

Efficient Polling: Use the lastUpdateId parameter for real-time updates without re-fetching all data.

Overview

Returns all basketball games that are currently in progress. Data updates every ~5 seconds for full coverage leagues like NBA and EuroLeague.

Query Parameters

competitions · integer

Filter by competition ID (e.g., 132 for NBA, 138 for EuroLeague)

lastUpdateId · integer

For efficient polling - returns only games that have changed since this ID. Get this value from the previous response.

Response Structure

games · array

Array of live game objects

Show Game Object

id · integer

Unique game identifier

statusText · string

Current game status (e.g., “Q3 5:42”, “Halftime”, “OT 2:30”)

statusGroup · integer

Status group: 1=Not Started, 2=Scheduled, 3=Live/In Progress, 4=Ended, 5=Cancelled, 6=Postponed, 8=Abandoned

homeCompetitor · object

Home team details including id, name, and current score

awayCompetitor · object

Away team details including id, name, and current score

competition · object

League information (id, name)

lastUpdateId · integer

Use this value in subsequent requests for efficient polling

Code Examples

cURL

curl -X GET "https://v1.basketball.sportsapipro.com/games/current" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Polling for Live Updates

Use the lastUpdateId parameter for efficient polling. This returns only games that have changed, reducing bandwidth and improving performance.

JavaScript - Polling

let lastUpdateId = null;

async function pollLiveGames() {
  const url = lastUpdateId 
    ? `https://v1.basketball.sportsapipro.com/games/current?lastUpdateId=${lastUpdateId}`
    : 'https://v1.basketball.sportsapipro.com/games/current';
    
  const response = await fetch(url, {
    headers: { 'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY' }
  });
  
  const data = await response.json();
  lastUpdateId = data.lastUpdateId;
  
  // Process updated games
  data.games.forEach(game => {
    console.log(`${game.homeCompetitor.name} ${game.homeCompetitor.score} - ${game.awayCompetitor.score} ${game.awayCompetitor.name}`);
  });
  
  return data;
}

// Poll every 5 seconds
setInterval(pollLiveGames, 5000);

Filter by Competition

Get only NBA games:

curl -X GET "https://v1.basketball.sportsapipro.com/games/current?competitions=132" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Status Groups

Value	Meaning
1	Not Started / Scheduled
2	Scheduled (pre-match)
3	Live / In Progress
4	Ended / Finished
5	Cancelled
6	Postponed
8	Abandoned

Key Competition IDs

Competition	ID
NBA	132
EuroLeague	138
WNBA	2004
NCAA Men’s	2065
Spanish ACB	149

Authorizations

x-api-key · string · header · required

Your SportsAPI Pro API key

Query Parameters

competitions · integer

Filter by competition ID (e.g., 132 for NBA)

Example:

132

lastUpdateId · integer

For efficient polling - returns only updates since this ID

Response

200 - application/json

Live games retrieved successfully

games · object[]

Show child attributes

lastUpdateId · integer

Use for subsequent polling requests