# Basketball Reference Scraper - NBA Player Stats (`lulzasaur/basketball-reference-scraper`) Actor Scrape Basketball-Reference.com for NBA/ABA player stats. Index mode gets 5,400+ players with bio data. Detailed mode adds full career per-game stats, advanced stats, and playoff stats. - **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/basketball-reference-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community) - **Categories:** E-commerce - **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $5.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Basketball Reference Scraper Scrape NBA and ABA player statistics from [Basketball-Reference.com](https://www.basketball-reference.com). Extract player bios, per-game stats, advanced metrics, and playoff data for all 5,400+ players in the database. ### Features - **Index Mode** - Quickly scrape all 5,400+ players with name, position, height, weight, birth date, college, and years active - **Detailed Mode** - Fetch full career stats for each player including per-game averages, advanced metrics, and playoff stats - **Letter Filter** - Scrape just one letter (a-z) to limit scope - **Hall of Fame Flag** - Automatically identifies Hall of Fame inductees - **Structured Data** - Uses `data-stat` attributes and JSON-LD schema.org markup for reliable extraction - **Rate-Limit Safe** - Built-in 3-second delays between requests to respect Cloudflare limits ### Scrape Modes #### Index Mode (`index`) Scrapes the player index pages (`/players/a/` through `/players/z/`) for basic biographical data. Fast — only 25 HTTP requests for all letters. **Output:** ```json { "name": "LeBron James", "position": "F", "height": "6-9", "weight": "250", "birthDate": "December 30, 1984", "college": "", "yearFrom": 2004, "yearTo": 2025, "yearsActive": "2004-2025", "hallOfFame": false, "url": "https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jamesle01.html" } ```` #### Detailed Mode (`detailed`) After scraping the index, follows each player URL to extract full career stats. Includes per-game averages, advanced metrics, and playoff data. Much slower — one request per player with 3-second delays. **Output:** ```json { "name": "LeBron James", "position": "F", "height": "6-9", "weight": "250 lbs", "birthDate": "December 30, 1984", "college": "St. Vincent-St. Mary (OH)", "yearsActive": "2004-2025", "hallOfFame": false, "fullName": "LeBron Raymone James", "birthPlace": "Akron, Ohio", "shoots": "Right", "draft": "Cleveland Cavaliers, 1st round (1st pick, 1st overall), 2003 NBA Draft", "careerGames": 1492, "careerPPG": 27.1, "careerRPG": 7.5, "careerAPG": 7.4, "careerSPG": 1.5, "careerBPG": 0.8, "careerFGPct": 0.505, "careerFG3Pct": 0.346, "careerFTPct": 0.735, "careerPER": 27.1, "careerWS": 247.3, "careerBPM": 8.9, "careerVORP": 145.6, "perGameStats": [ { "season": "2003-04", "age": 19, "team": "CLE", "league": "NBA", "games": 79, "minutesPerGame": 39.5, "ptsPerGame": 20.9, "rebPerGame": 5.5, "astPerGame": 5.9, "fgPct": 0.417, "fg3Pct": 0.29 } ], "advancedStats": [ { "season": "2003-04", "per": 18.3, "ws": 5.1, "bpm": 3.0, "vorp": 4.5 } ], "playoffPerGameStats": [ { "season": "2005-06", "team": "CLE", "games": 13, "ptsPerGame": 30.8, "rebPerGame": 8.1, "astPerGame": 5.8 } ], "url": "https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jamesle01.html" } ``` ### Input Parameters | Parameter | Type | Default | Description | |-----------|------|---------|-------------| | `scrapeType` | select | `index` | `index` for bios only, `detailed` for full career stats | | `letter` | text | (empty) | Single letter a-z to filter by last name initial | | `maxResults` | integer | 500 | Maximum number of players to return (1-10,000) | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | Residential | Proxy settings for avoiding rate limits | ### Per-Game Stats Extracted Games (G), Games Started (GS), Minutes (MPG), Field Goals (FG, FGA, FG%), 3-Pointers (3P, 3PA, 3P%), 2-Pointers (2P, 2PA, 2P%), Effective FG%, Free Throws (FT, FTA, FT%), Offensive Rebounds (ORB), Defensive Rebounds (DRB), Total Rebounds (TRB), Assists (AST), Steals (STL), Blocks (BLK), Turnovers (TOV), Personal Fouls (PF), Points (PTS) ### Advanced Stats Extracted Player Efficiency Rating (PER), True Shooting % (TS%), 3-Point Attempt Rate, Free Throw Rate, Offensive/Defensive/Total Rebound %, Assist %, Steal %, Block %, Turnover %, Usage %, Offensive/Defensive Win Shares (OWS, DWS, WS), Win Shares per 48 (WS/48), Offensive/Defensive Box Plus-Minus (OBPM, DBPM, BPM), Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) ### Example Use Cases - **Fantasy Basketball** - Get per-game averages for all active players - **Historical Analysis** - Compare career stats across eras - **Draft Research** - Analyze player development year-over-year - **Hall of Fame Prediction** - Use advanced metrics to project HOF candidates - **College Pipeline** - Find which colleges produce the most NBA players ### Proxy Configuration Basketball-Reference uses Cloudflare and may rate-limit at ~20 requests per minute. The scraper has built-in 3-second delays between requests. Residential proxies are recommended for detailed mode runs with many players. ### Technical Notes - Uses `got-scraping` + `cheerio` for fast HTML parsing (no browser needed) - Extracts data from `data-stat` attributes on table cells for reliable field mapping - Parses JSON-LD `schema.org/Person` data for biographical information - Handles HTML comments (Basketball-Reference hides some stat tables inside comments) - Rate-limited to ~20 req/min with 3-second delays between requests - Pay-per-event charging: billed per result returned # Actor input Schema ## `scrapeType` (type: `string`): Index mode: scrapes player index pages for name, position, height, weight, college, years active. Detailed mode: also fetches each player's full career stats (per-game, advanced, playoffs). ## `letter` (type: `string`): Optional: scrape only players whose last name starts with this letter (a-z). Leave empty to scrape all letters. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of players to return. For index mode, limits total players. For detailed mode, limits how many players get their full stats fetched. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxy settings. Recommended for large-scale runs to avoid rate limiting by Basketball-Reference (Cloudflare). ## Actor input object example ```json { "scrapeType": "index", "maxResults": 500, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } ``` # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "letter": "" }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/basketball-reference-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "letter": "" } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("lulzasaur/basketball-reference-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "letter": "" }' | apify call lulzasaur/basketball-reference-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lulzasaur/basketball-reference-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Basketball Reference Scraper - NBA Player Stats", "description": "Scrape Basketball-Reference.com for NBA/ABA player stats. Index mode gets 5,400+ players with bio data. Detailed mode adds full career per-game stats, advanced stats, and playoff stats.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "5MKS1hkh4YbeqysTd" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/lulzasaur~basketball-reference-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-lulzasaur-basketball-reference-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/lulzasaur~basketball-reference-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-lulzasaur-basketball-reference-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/lulzasaur~basketball-reference-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-lulzasaur-basketball-reference-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "scrapeType": { "title": "Scrape Type", "enum": [ "index", "detailed" ], "type": "string", "description": "Index mode: scrapes player index pages for name, position, height, weight, college, years active. Detailed mode: also fetches each player's full career stats (per-game, advanced, playoffs).", "default": "index" }, "letter": { "title": "Letter Filter", "type": "string", "description": "Optional: scrape only players whose last name starts with this letter (a-z). Leave empty to scrape all letters." }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 10000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of players to return. For index mode, limits total players. For detailed mode, limits how many players get their full stats fetched.", "default": 500 }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxy settings. Recommended for large-scale runs to avoid rate limiting by Basketball-Reference (Cloudflare).", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ] } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```