When Does the NBA Season Start and End?

Keep track of the NBA season by learning about when it starts and ends here.

Introduction

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The NBA season starts in October and ends in June. Each team in the NBA plays 82 regular season games, 41 at home and 41 away. The regular season is followed by the playoffs, which is a single-elimination tournament that culminates with the NBA Finals.

The NBA Season

The NBA season is one of the most exciting times of the year for basketball fans. The season starts in October and ends in April. The playoffs start in April and the Finals end in June.

The Regular Season

The National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season starts in the first week of October and ends in mid-April. Each team plays 82 games, 41 at home and 41 on the road. The regular season is followed by the NBA playoffs.

The Playoffs

The Playoffs begin at the end of the regular NBA season. The top eight teams in each conference (Eastern and Western), based on their regular season records, qualify for the Playoffs. The conference playoff bracket layout is as follows:

The first round of the Playoffs, or conference quarterfinals, is a best-of-five series. The team seeds denote which team has home-court advantage. In the first round, the higher-seeded team plays host to games one, two and five (if necessary), while their opponent plays host to games three and four (if necessary). From the conference semifinals onward, if a series reaches a fifth game (sometimes referred to as a “game five”), it is played at a neutral site.

In the second round, or conference semifinals, the matchups are:

First Seed vs. Eighth Seed
Second Seed vs. Seventh Seed
Third Seed vs. Sixth Seed
Fourth Seed vs. Fifth Seed

Once again, home-court advantage goes to the higher seed; in this case, those with better records during the regular season earn that right by merit of their seeding. In addition to home court advantage in games one, two and five (if necessary), this also means that if both teams split Games One and Two played at one team’s home venue (i.e., they each win one game as the visitor), then Games Three and Four would also be played at that same venue since that team now holds home-court advantage for the series as a whole by virtue of having won more games overall up until this point. Similarly if both teams split Games Three and Four played at the other team’s home venue then Game Five would be played back at the first team’s home venue since it now holds home-court advantage for the series by virtue of having won more total games overall up until this point regardless of whether either team had previously held home-court advantage or not. If one team wins all three games played at its own venue then it will hold home-court advantage throughout even if its opponent had been holding said advantage prior to Game One due to earning a better record during the regular season; conversely if one team loses all three games played at its own venue then it will lose home-court advantage throughout even if its opponent had been losing said advantage prior to Game One due to having earned a worse record during the regular season – therefore only two potential combinations of results may occur regarding who ultimately holds home court advantage for any given playoff series: 1) The higher seed earns/maintains control of it from start to finish; or 2) The lower seed earns/maintains control of it from start to finish.[17] Home court in each individual matchup does not necessarily stay with same team throughout playoffs; rather, it changes from matchup to matchup as per above paragraph regarding any given playoff series overall.

NBA Finals

The Conference Finals are followed by the NBA Finals, which is also a best-of-seven series between Conference Champions with home court determined based on regular season record as described above regarding Conference Semifinals – meaning that if one team earned/maintained control of it throughout while winning all three games played at its own venue then it will hold said advantage throughoutthe NBA Finals as well; conversely if one team lost all three games played at its own venue then it will lose said advantage throughoutthe NBA Finals as well.[18][19]

Conclusion

The NBA season starts in October and ends in June. The playoffs start in April and end in June.