How Many NBA Games Per Season?

The NBA season is 82 games long. However, each team doesn’t play every other team an equal amount of times.

82 Regular Season Games

Each NBA team plays 82 regular season games, 41 each home and away. The regular season starts in the first week of October and ends in the last week of April. The playoffs follow the regular season, with the NBA Finals taking place in June.

10 Pre-Season Games

The average NBA team plays 10 preseason games. This is 2 more than they played in the 2015-2016 season, when the preseason was 8 games long. The 2017-2018 preseason is the longest it has been since 2012, when teams played 11 games.

Playoffs

The National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the NBA’s regular season to determine the league’s champion. The playoffs follow a tournament format; each team plays against a single opponent in a best-of-seven series with the first team to win four games advancing into the next round, while the other team is eliminated from the playoffs. The bracket diagram on the right depicts how teams advance through rounds.

In 1966, when the NBA was formed, there were only 8 teams in the league and so the playoffs were a simple 4 team tournament where each series was played in a 2–2–1–1–1 format (the venue order would alternate between 1 and 2 for each successive game). From 1975 to 1984, four teams from each conference were allowed into what became known as the NBA Conference Finals. These rounds were played in a 2–2–1–1 format (i.e. two home games for one team, followed by two away games for that team, then finally another home game for that team if necessary). The number of teams qualifying for the NBA Playoffs has increased over time; currently 16 teams qualify: 8 from each conference.

The top 8 seeds get home court advantage which means they host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 while their opponents host Games 3, 4 and 6 (games 5–7 are only played if necessary). Since 1986 when this system was put into place, no #8 seed has won an NBA Championship but since 2010 three #8 seeds have advanced to their respective Conference Finals.

8 teams from each conference

The NBA regular season is 82 games long, and it typically starts in the middle of October and ends in the middle of April. There are 30 teams in the league, and they are split up into two conferences — the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. Each conference has three divisions, and each division has five teams. That means there are 15 teams in each conference.

The playoffs start at the end of April, and they typically last until the middle or end of June. The first round is a best-of-seven series, and all subsequent rounds are best-of-seven series as well. Eight teams from each conference make the playoffs — the three division winners from each conference, as well as the five best Teams who did not win their division (these teams are referred to as “wild card” teams).

4 rounds of best-of-seven series

In a typical NBA season, each of the 30 teams plays 82 regular-season games. They are then seeded in the playoffs based on their regular-season records. The playoffs are a single-elimination tournament, meaning that once a team loses, it is out of the playoffs. The tournament consists of four rounds of best-of-seven series. The team with the better record in each series hosts Games 1, 2, 5, and 7 (if necessary); the other team hosts Games 3, 4, and 6 (if necessary).