NBA All-Star Google Assistant Action
Voice-enabled fan voting for NBA All-Star 2019, built in collaboration with Google and the NBA — through a TribalScale client engagement.
Overview
NBA All-Star Voting 2019 was presented by Google as part of a multi-year agreement, and Google Assistant became an official voting method for the first time. Fans could invoke "Hey Google, talk to NBA All-Star" on Assistant-enabled phones, speakers, smart displays, tablets, and laptops to cast up to ten unique player votes per day during the voting window — alongside NBA.com, the NBA app, and Google Search.
Through TribalScale, I served as Engineering Manager and Senior Software Engineer on the Google Assistant Action, working with Google and the NBA to translate a structured All-Star ballot into a conversational experience. The work combined Dialogflow conversational design, TypeScript / JavaScript fulfillment, AWS DynamoDB-backed event data, and the event-specific rules around daily voting, 2-for-1 days, and player-name resolution.
What sets it apart
Conversational All-Star voting
A web ballot can show errors and confirmation states visually; a voice ballot has to do that through conversation. The Action was designed around clean invocation, intent-driven player selection, slot-filled disambiguation, and short confirmation turns — long enough to feel intentional, short enough to feel natural.
Fixed launch, immovable rules
The voting window opened on Christmas Day and closed on MLK Day, with daily limits and 2-for-1 weighting days layered on top. The fulfillment layer encoded the rules — daily ballots, the 10-player Assistant cap, valid-player matching — alongside dynamic responses for the events around the voting period.
One Action, every Assistant surface
The Action ran across every Assistant-enabled surface — phones, Home and Nest speakers, Smart Displays, tablets, and laptops — with a single Dialogflow project, TypeScript fulfillment behind the scenes, and DynamoDB carrying the event-specific data and state.
My role
As Engineering Manager and Senior Software Engineer at TribalScale on the NBA engagement, I worked with Google and the NBA to deliver the All-Star Assistant Action — a Dialogflow-based conversational experience with TypeScript / JavaScript fulfillment, AWS DynamoDB-backed event data, and a multi-device Assistant footprint that lit up across phones, speakers, displays, tablets, and laptops during the All-Star voting window.
- Collaborated with Google and the NBA on the NBA All-Star Google Assistant Action through TribalScale
- Built the Dialogflow project — invocation, intents, player-entity slot filling, disambiguation, and confirmation flows
- Implemented TypeScript / JavaScript fulfillment for the conversational experience
- Used AWS DynamoDB as the event-specific data and state layer
- Encoded NBA All-Star voting rules — daily ballots, the 10-player Assistant cap, 2-for-1 days, and valid-player matching
- Delivered a multi-device Assistant experience across phones, speakers, Smart Displays, tablets, and laptops
- Balanced hands-on engineering with Engineering Manager responsibilities for a high-visibility event-based product
NBA All-Star 2019 · promo spot
Google Assistant Action
The NBA All-Star Action ran across Assistant-enabled phones, smart speakers, Smart Displays, tablets, and laptops — invoked by saying "Hey Google, talk to NBA All-Star."
Capabilities
- Voice voting
- Natural language interaction
- Player-name resolution
- Daily ballot flows
- Vote confirmation
- Multi-device Assistant UX
- Event-rule enforcement
- Smart Display surface
- Smart-speaker surface
- Phone & tablet Assistant
- Dynamic responses
- Disambiguation prompts
Distributed across
Built on
- Languages
- TypeScriptJavaScript
- Voice & AI
- Google AssistantDialogflowConversational ActionsNatural language processing
- Backend
- Node.js fulfillmentAWS DynamoDBEvent-specific data & state
- Conversation design
- Invocation & welcomeIntent recognitionPlayer-entity slot fillingDisambiguation & fallbackConfirmation & continuation
- Event rules
- Fixed voting windowDaily 10-player Assistant cap2-for-1 daysAll-current-player ballot
- Platforms
- Google Assistant phonesSmart speakersSmart DisplaysTabletsLaptops
Press & further reading
NBA, league communications, independent press, and Google platform documentation framing the Assistant voting experience and its post-event status.
- NBA All-Star Voting 2019 presented by Google tips off on Christmas DayNBA, December 2018Official NBA announcement covering the multi-year Google partnership, Assistant as a first-time voting method, the daily 10-player cap, 2-for-1 days, and the voting window.
- Google Assistant lets fans vote for the 2019 NBA All-Star starters9to5Google, December 2018Independent coverage of the Assistant Action launch and Google’s sports push around Assistant.
- 2019 NBA All-Star Game starters — voting resultsNBA Communications, January 2019Official 2019 starter results — confirms the 50% fan / 25% players / 25% media weighting that framed the voting product.
- Conversational Actions sunset overviewGoogle for DevelopersGoogle’s notice that Conversational Actions were turned down on June 13, 2023 — the reason the original Assistant experience is preserved here as an archived project.
- Honda Dream Drive — CES 2019Honda Innovation, 2019Adjacent CES 2019 voice / automotive engagement from the same TribalScale period — covered in detail on the Honda Dream Drive case study.
“Hey Google, talk to NBA All-Star — fan voting reimagined as a conversation, across every Assistant surface.”
Engineering Manager · Senior Software Engineer · TribalScale · NBA · Google
Oct 2018 – Feb 2019
This case study describes a completed event-based engagement delivered through TribalScale in collaboration with Google and the NBA. The original Assistant experience is preserved here as an archived project — Google sunset Conversational Actions on June 13, 2023.
Read the role detail