Q&A with Keke Lyles

Keke Lyles recently joined Sportlight Technology as a strategic advisor, bringing decades of experience at the intersection of elite performance and innovation. A former NBA Strength Coach of the Year, Keke has held high-performance leadership roles with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks, as well as with Navy Special Warfare and multiple sports tech startups. In a recent conversation, he shared more about his background, his new role at Sportlight, and how he sees the future of athlete performance evolving. 

How have you seen the use of sports performance technology evolve over time, and where do you think it’s headed?

I think the use of technology in sports has ramped up significantly over the last ten years, and especially over the past five. What we’re seeing now is a shift toward a much more personalized approach for each individual athlete. Teams and practitioners now have a solid understanding of the broader, team-level demands of different sports. So the focus has shifted to the individual level – how to generate insights and build custom programs based on what the data reveals about each specific athlete.

Looking ahead, I think you’ll see even more real-time, customized programs that can adapt in the moment – whether it's strategic changes or physical load management – based on live insights from the data.

How has that shift shaped your personal philosophy around athlete performance and sports tech?

It's made me recognize that every athlete is their own person. In the past, we would look at athletes in similar positions and assume their needs were the same. But the way each athlete responds to the same demands can vary dramatically. That individualized approach is far more appropriate.

A decade ago, the technology just wasn’t fast or refined enough to support this kind of personalization. Now, we’re at a place where we can distill data at the individual level and create truly customized programs. And we’re already seeing the results – longer careers, for example. Hopefully we’ll also start seeing fewer injuries as a result.

Was there a particular moment when the "one-size-fits-all" approach started to shift?

I don’t think there was one single tipping point, but the shift has been building for the better part of the last decade. It’s been driven both by athlete feedback and team demands. Once teams started digging into the data, it quickly became clear how different athletes really are. It didn’t take long to realize that a more individualized lens was essential.

What do you see as the biggest challenges teams face when implementing new tech?

One of the biggest risks is relying on data that’s not accurate or reliable. If you're working with what I’d call “dirty data,” the insights that come from it may not be valuable – or worse, may be misleading.

Another challenge is understanding how to interpret new types of data. Sometimes the tech is so new, it’s not immediately clear what the data means or how it connects to performance outcomes. So data quality, volume, and interpretation are all key.

Athlete trust seems like a big part of that – how important is transparency in building that trust?

It’s huge. Athletes absolutely need to trust the tech, and to do that, they have to understand it. That starts with education – helping them grasp what the data is, how it’s being used, and how it benefits them.

Athletes today are much more tech-savvy than 10–15 years ago. Many are being exposed to performance data and tools in high school or college, so they’re used to it. And they’re more likely to take ownership of their own data, which is great.

Also, when athletes give feedback – like how they’re feeling versus what the data shows – it helps practitioners align both sides. If the numbers and the athlete’s lived experience don’t match, that’s a signal to dig deeper. Their buy-in is critical.

You've spent time in the NBA – how has movement tracking evolved in basketball, and where do you see Sportlight’s biggest opportunities?

I think we’re still at the starting line when it comes to really understanding movement in basketball. Shooting-specific tools have gotten more attention, but team-wide tracking is still very early.

That’s where Sportlight can make a huge impact – being able to track full-team movement without wearables, using LiDAR cameras. LiDAR is a true measurement tool, and that makes a big difference compared to other optical-based systems. The accuracy is much higher, which makes the insights more meaningful.

There’s a big opportunity for Sportlight to establish itself not just in the NBA, but globally. Basketball is a worldwide sport, and this kind of tech is relevant across the board.

What are you most excited about in your new role at Sportlight?

I’m focused on helping the team with product feedback, especially as we adapt the tech from soccer to basketball. The team has done an amazing job in soccer, and they’re really close to having an equally strong product for basketball.

I’ll also be helping get Sportlight in front of the right people within NBA organizations to gather their feedback and make sure we’re building to their specific needs. The U.S. market has different demands compared to the U.K., so we want to be really intentional about that.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I think we really hit home on the most important points – especially around accuracy and the LiDAR technology. That’s what makes Sportlight stand out. I’m excited to be part of the journey.