In this article, we will take a closer look at the number of games played in a standard National Basketball Association season.
We will also break down the structure of how and when they are played.
HOW MANY NBA TEAMS ARE THERE?
A total of 30 teams now play in the NBA.
29 of those teams are from the USA and one (Toronto Raptors) are from Canada.
HOW MANY GAMES DOES EACH TEAM PLAY IN THE NBA REGULAR SEASON?
All the teams play 82 games each per season and follow the same formula.
Because of the size of the USA, it is impractical to expect teams to play in a city 4,000 miles away on a frequent basis. To combat this, the 30 NBA teams are split into two conferences of 15 each.
Those are known as the Western and Eastern Conferences.
Those conferences are then split further into smaller regional divisions, which are as follows:
Atlantic (E)
Central (E)
Northwest (W)
Pacific (W)
Southeast (E)
Southwest (W)
Each division is made up of five teams. They tend to be the teams that are closest to each other geographically. However, certain franchises have changed name and location over the years and so this rule does not always hold true.
The teams are divided up as follows:
THE ATLANTIC DIVISION
The Atlantic division started in the 1970/71 season.
It includes the Canadian side mentioned earlier.
The teams in the Atlantic division are:
The Boston Celtics – Boston, MA
The Brooklyn Nets – New York City, NY
The New York Knicks – New York City, NY
The Philadelphia 76ers – Philadelphia, PA
The Toronto Raptors – Toronto, ON, Canada
THE CENTRAL DIVISION
The Central Division was originally known as the Midwest division. It started in the 1970/71 season.
The teams in the Central division are:
The Chicago Bulls – Chicago, IL
The Cleveland Cavaliers – Cleveland, OH
The Detroit Pistons – Detroit, MI
The Indiana Pacers – Indianapolis, IN
The Milwaukee Bucks – Milwaukee, WI
THE NORTHWEST DIVISION
The Northwest division started in the 2004/05 season.
The teams in the Northwest division are:
The Denver Nuggets – Denver, CO
The Minnesota Timberwolves – Minneapolis, MN
The Oklahoma City Thunder – Oklahoma City, OK
The Portland Trail Blazers – Portland, OR
The Utah Jazz – Salt Lake City, UT
THE PACIFIC DIVISION
The Pacific Division has been in existence since the 1970/71 season.
The teams in the Pacific division are:
The Golden State Warriors – San Francisco, CA
The Los Angeles Clippers – LA, CA
The Los Angeles Lakers – LA, CA
The Phoenix Suns – Phoenix, AZ
The Sacramento Kings – Sacramento, CA
THE SOUTHEAST DIVISION
The Southeast division started in the 2004/05 season.
The teams in the Southeast division are:
The Atlanta Hawks – Atlanta, GA
The Charlotte Hornets – Charlotte, NC
The Miami Heat – Miami, FL
The Orlando Magic – Orlando, FL
The Washington Wizards – Washington, DC
THE SOUTHWEST DIVISION
The Southwest division started in the 2004/05 season.
The teams in the Southwest division are:
The Dallas Mavericks – Dallas, TX
The Houston Rockets – Houston, TX
The Memphis Grizzlies – Memphis, TN
The New Orleans Pelicans – New Orleans, LA
The San Antonio Spurs – San Antonio, TX
A team starts the season by playing all the other teams in their division.
They play against each of those teams four times.
16 GAMES IN TOTAL
Each side is then matched against six teams from other divisions but within the same conference.
Each team plays four times against each of the six new opponents.
24 GAMES IN TOTAL
There are now four remaining teams in the same conference that each team has not played yet. They now play those three times each.
12 GAMES IN TOTAL
Finally, each team plays against each team from the other conference, home and away.
30 GAMES IN TOTAL
All the teams play 82 total games per standard NBA season
Teams play 41 of their games at home and 41 games away.
The goal of the regular season is to finish as high as possible, as only the top-ranked teams from each division will be eligible for…
THE NBA PLAYOFFS
Each conference has 15 teams that are ranked according to their win percentage as the season progresses.
The top 8 from each conference move on to the NBA Playoffs.
Here they ‘play off’ against each other based on their seeded position, however, they still remain within their conferences at this point.
EACH CONFERENCE HAS 4 MATCHUPS
The teams play a mini best of 7 series whereby the first team to reach 4 wins progresses to the next round of The Playoffs.
Teams that make it to the second round now start another best of 7 series, still against teams from their own conference.
AGAIN THE WINNERS PROGRESS
This time only 2 remain and they participate in the NBA Conference Finals.
The Conference Finals also happen on a best of 7 basis.
THE WINNERS FIND THEMSELVES IN THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION FINALS
Again we find a best of 7 scenario in order to find the eventual winner.
If the teams go all the way to the last possible deciding game in the Finals then they will have played a total of 110 games.
FINAL THOUGHTS
When the question is “How many games in nba season?” the answer varies.
If we include the NBA Playoffs in June then nobody can know until the very end just how many games played out.
Generally, when we include every team in the picture, there are 1,230 games in a full regular season of the NBA.
The NBA Championship has a LOT of games. That’s one reason that fans, including those here in The Jump Huboffice, are so excited when the season finally comes around.
There are just so many games played that there is a constant stream of action to get your teeth into.
Long may it continue.
