The NBA basketball league has entered into a partnership with meditation and mindfulness app Headspace.
The multi-year deal also covers the Women’s National Basketball Association, NBA G League and NBA 2K League. Employees across all competitions will receive access to the Headspace app as part of the agreement.
The NBA and Headspace will co-develop mental training content on the app this summer. The content will be designed to better prepare athletes for competition. Headspace will also conduct events across the NBA such as league employee wellness programs and mindfulness sessions with team staff.
In addition, league and team staff will receive access to Headspace’s library of meditation content, including Headspace for Sport, which seeks to strengthen mindfulness and meditation skills through a variety of 10-session packs.
The Wall Street Journal newspaper, citing a source familiar with the matter, reported that “no money changed hands” through the partnership. The Journal added that Headspace would give away about 7,000 annual subscriptions to its service, which normally cost $96 (€78) per year.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said: “The focus in sports training has often been exclusively on physical conditioning, but as top athletes at all levels have increasingly learned, mental fitness is also a critical determinate of success.
“The NBA is committed to promoting healthy living and we are pleased that through our partnership with Headspace, we are able to provide the NBA family with a resource to support mental wellness.”
Headspace also holds partnerships with Apple, Amazon, Google and Nike.