Indiana Pacers Basketball Analytics Intern - Spring 2027

Gainbridge Fieldhouse; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 21,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

Gainbridge Fieldhouse seeks a Basketball Analytics Intern for Spring 2027 to support the Indiana Pacers analytics team. The on-site role in Indianapolis involves building tools, cleaning data, and delivering reports to front office, coaching, and training staff.

Applicants should be passionate about basketball and data, with Python/SQL experience and strong communication skills. The internship runs January–May with an approximate 40-hour week commitment and a chance to collaborate on projects

Qualifications

• Enrolled as a junior, senior, or graduate student in college or university.
• Demonstrated data programming experience (Python and SQL) in data science/engineering/analysis.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerBI).
• Strong organizational and data presentation skills.
• Excellent communication and eagerness to learn about basketball analytics.

Responsibilities

• Develop internal software tools for front office and coaching staff—reports, models, or pipelines.
• Gather, clean, store, and integrate data from multiple sources.
• Create standardized and ad-hoc analyses and reports.
• Maintain and extend analytics infrastructure.
• Collaborate on basketball operations projects and present results.
• Assist with game-night responsibilities as needed.

Skills

Python

SQL

Excel

PowerBI

Communication

Organization

Motivation

Education

Undergraduate or graduate student

Tools

Git

Job description

Indiana Pacers Basketball Analytics Intern - Spring 2027

Internship Term: Spring 2027 (January - May)

Internship Location: on-site in Indianapolis, IN

Anticipated Time Commitment: approximately 40 hours per week

Pacers Sports & Entertainment is seeking a Basketball Analytics Intern who will work directly with the Indiana Pacers analytics team in support of the front office, training staff, and coaching staff. The overall focus will be on helping improve existing data science and data engineering projects, developing new tools, and maintaining current analytics infrastructure. Experience in sports is not required, but applicants should be passionate about basketball and the data industry.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop internal software tools for use by the front office and coaching staff, including but not limited to new reports, predictive models, or data engineering pipelines.
• Gather, clean, store, manage, and integrate data from a variety of sources.
• Assist in the creation of both standardized reports and ad-hoc analyses.
• Maintain and extend our existing analytics infrastructure.
• Innovate across all aspects of basketball operations including coaching, scouting, and performance analytics.
• Communicate results to the basketball operations staff through presentations, written reports, and tools.
• Assist with compiling statistics/data and reporting for the Indiana Pacers and Noblesville Boom.
• Collaborate on team projects and work autonomously on individual work.
• Assisting with game night responsibilities as needed.
• Other duties and projects as assigned.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Enrolled in a college or university program as a junior, senior, or graduate student.
• Demonstrated data programming experience (Python and SQL) either in data science, data engineering, or data analysis.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word, PowerBI).
• Strong organizational skills with a robust attention to detail in regards both to checking data and visual presentation of deliverables.
• Excellent communication skills and a desire to learn more both about the basketball industry and data analytics’ impact on the game.
• Highly motivated and dependable.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Interest in basketball and familiarity with basketball terminology and analytics is a plus.
• Basic knowledge of version control systems like Git.
• Experience with statistical analysis and machine learning techniques (eg, regression/modeling, clustering, hypothesis testing, categorical data analysis), commonly used statistics packages in R or Python, data visualization, and data collection methods.
• Familiarity with AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude) and an interest in applying LLMs to streamline research and analysis

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

COMPUTER SKILLS:

Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office, Python, as well as the ability to a learn and utilize new computer programs quickly and efficiently.

REASONING ABILITY:

Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret directions and technical diagrams.

PROBLEM SOLVING REQUIREMENTS:

Ability to deal with various internal and external constituents to solve problems and deliver projects on time with accuracy, professionalism and with outstanding customer service.

PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, use a computer, use a telephone, speak, hear, and write.

While performing the duties of this job, the noise level in the office work environment is usually moderate and the noise level in the Fieldhouse / game environment is usually loud. The stress level may become high during certain times of the year.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity, marital status, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.