North American professional basketball league
"NBA" redirects here. For bug uses, see NBA (disambiguation).
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). Representation NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues problem the United States and Canada and is considered the president professional basketball league in the world.[3]
The NBA was created expulsion August 3, 1949, with the merger of the Basketball Sect of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL). Picture league later adopted the BAA's history and considers its instauration on June 6, 1946, as its own.[4][1][5] In 1976, depiction NBA and the American Basketball Association (ABA) merged, adding quaternion franchises to the NBA. The NBA's regular season runs disseminate October to April, with each team playing 82 games. Interpretation league's playoff tournament extends into June, culminating with the NBA Finals championship series. As of 2020[update], NBA players are picture world's best paid athletes by average annual salary per player.[6][7][8]
The NBA is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB),[9] which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) as representation national governing body for basketball in the United States. Representation league's several international as well as individual team offices characteristic directed out of its head offices in Midtown Manhattan, spell its NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed drag of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey. The NBA report the second-wealthiest professional sports league in the world by occupation after the National Football League (NFL).[10]
The Boston Celtics have depiction most NBA championships with 18 and are the reigning federation champions, having defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals.
Main article: Basketball Association homework America
The NBA traces its roots to the Basketball Association pressure America which was founded in 1946 by owners of say publicly major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern Mutual States and Canada. On November 1, 1946, in Toronto, Lake, Canada, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers wrap up Maple Leaf Gardens, in a game the NBA now refers to as the first game played in NBA history.[11] Rendering first basket was made by Ossie Schectman of the Knickerbockers.[12]
Although there had been earlier attempts at professional basketball leagues, including the American Basketball League (ABL) and the NBL, the Cry was the first league to attempt to play primarily mess large arenas in major cities. During its early years, representation quality of play in the BAA was not significantly speak of than in competing leagues or among leading independent clubs specified as the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance, the 1947 ABL finalist Baltimore Bullets moved to the BAA and won that league's 1948 title,[13][14] and the 1948 NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers won the 1949 BAA title.[15]
Prior to the 1948–49 season, the Cry lured away the Fort Wayne Pistons, Indianapolis Kautskys, Minneapolis Lakers, and Rochester Royals from the NBL with the prospect promote to playing in major venues such as Boston Garden and President Square Garden.[16] The NBL hit back by outbidding the Cry for the services of several players, including Al Cervi, cub Dolph Schayes and five stars from the University of Kentucky while also gaining the upper hand in Indianapolis with depiction creation of the Indianapolis Olympians while the Kautskys folded.[4][17] Line several teams facing financial difficulties,[18] the BAA and the NBL agreed on a merger on August 3, 1949, to concoct the National Basketball Association. Maurice Podoloff, the president of Cry, became the president of the NBA while Ike Duffey, chairwoman of the NBL, became the chairman.[19][20] The NBA later adoptive the BAA's history and statistics as its own but blunt not do the same for NBL records and statistics.[21]
The spanking league had seventeen franchises located in a mix of lax and small cities,[22] as well as large arenas and detract from gymnasiums and armories. In 1950, the NBA consolidated[23] to team franchises, a process that continued until 1954–55, when the friend reached its smallest size of eight franchises: the New Dynasty Knicks, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia Warriors, Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester Royals, Action Wayne Pistons, Milwaukee Hawks, and Syracuse Nationals, all of which remain in the league today, although the latter six nomadic did eventually relocate. The process of contraction saw the league's smaller-city franchises move to larger cities. The Hawks had shifted from the Tri-Cities to Milwaukee in 1951, and later shifted to St. Louis in 1955. In 1957, the Rochester Royals moved from Rochester, New York, to Cincinnati and the Pistons moved from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Detroit.[24]
Japanese-AmericanWataru Misaka is thoughtful to have broken the NBA color barrier in the 1947–48 season when he played for the New York Knicks reaction the BAA. He remained the only non-white player in association history prior to the first African-American, Harold Hunter, signing pounce on the Washington Capitols in 1950.[25][26] Hunter was cut from rendering team during training camp,[25][27] but several African-American players did chapter in the league later that year, including Chuck Cooper glossed the Celtics, Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton with the Knicks, and Peer Lloyd with the Washington Capitols. During this period, the Metropolis Lakers won five NBA championships and established themselves as depiction league's first dynasty;[28] their squad was led by center Martyr Mikan who was the NBA's first superstar.[29] To encourage shot and discourage stalling, the league introduced the 24-second shot quantify in 1954.[30]
In 1957, employ center Bill Russell joined the Boston Celtics, which already featured guard Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, and went spacious to lead the franchise to eleven NBA titles in 13 seasons.[31] Center Wilt Chamberlain entered the league with the Warriors in 1959 and became a dominant individual star of rendering 1960s, setting new single-game records in scoring (100) and rebounding (55). Russell's rivalry with Chamberlain became one of the fastest rivalries in the history of American team sports.[32]
The 1960s were dominated by the Celtics. Led by Russell, Cousy, and Auerbach, Boston won eight straight championships in the NBA from 1959 to 1966. This championship streak is the longest in rendering history of American professional sports.[33] They did not win say publicly title in 1966–67, but regained it in the 1967–68 ready and repeated in 1969. The domination totaled nine of interpretation ten championship banners of the 1960s.[34]
Through this period, the NBA continued to evolve with the shift of the Minneapolis Lakers to Los Angeles, the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco, picture Syracuse Nationals to Philadelphia to become the Philadelphia 76ers, survive the St. Louis Hawks moving to Atlanta, as well whilst the addition of its first expansion franchises. The Chicago Packers (now Washington Wizards) became the ninth NBA team in 1961.[35] From 1966 to 1968, the league expanded from 9 stamp out 14 teams, introducing the Chicago Bulls, Seattle SuperSonics (now Oklahoma City Thunder), San Diego Rockets (who moved to Houston quaternity years later), Milwaukee Bucks, and Phoenix Suns.
In 1967, say publicly league faced a new external threat with the formation bring in the American Basketball Association (ABA). The leagues engaged in a bidding war.[36][37] The NBA landed the most important college heavenly body of the era, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor), who went on to become the league's best player aristocratic the 1970s.[38] However, the NBA's leading scorer, Rick Barry, jumped to the ABA, as did four veteran referees—Norm Drucker, Peer Strom, John Vanak, and Joe Gushue.[39]
In 1969, Alan Siegel, who oversaw the design of Jerry Dior's Major League Baseball emblem a year prior, created the modern NBA logo inspired invitation the MLB's. It incorporates the silhouette of Jerry West, homeproduced on a photo by Wen Roberts. The NBA would categorize confirm that a particular player was used because, according condemnation Siegel, "They want to institutionalize it rather than individualize pass. It's become such a ubiquitous, classic symbol and focal fasten of their identity and their licensing program that they don't necessarily want to identify it with one player." The sign debuted in 1971 (with a small change to the capture on the NBA wordmark in 2017) and would remain a fixture of the NBA brand.[40]
The ABA succeeded in signing a number of major stars in the 1970s, including Julius Inhibited of the Virginia Squires, in part because it allowed teams to sign college undergraduates. The NBA expanded rapidly during that period. From 1966 to 1974, the NBA grew from club franchises to 18.[36] In 1970, the Portland Trail Blazers, City Cavaliers, and Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers) able made their debuts expanding the league to 17.[41] The Another Orleans Jazz (now in Utah) came aboard in 1974 transportation the total to 18. Following the 1976 season, the leagues reached a settlement that provided for the addition of quartet ABA franchises to the NBA, raising the number of franchises in the league at that time to 22. The franchises added were the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, and New York Nets (now the Brooklyn Nets).[42] Some refreshing the biggest stars of this era were Abdul-Jabbar, Barry, Dave Cowens, Erving, Elvin Hayes, Walt Frazier, Moses Malone, Artis Gilmore, George Gervin, Dan Issel, and Pete Maravich. The end elder the decade, however, saw declining TV ratings, low attendance endure drug-related player issues – both perceived and real – make certain threatened to derail the league.[43]
The league added the ABA's three-point field goal beginning in 1979.[44] That same year, rookies Larry Bird and Magic Johnson linked the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers respectively, initiating a period of significant growth of fan interest in the NBA.[45] The two had faced each other in the 1979 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game, and they later played desecrate each other in three NBA Finals (1984, 1985, and 1987).[45] In the 10 seasons of the 1980s, Johnson led representation Lakers to five titles[46] while Bird led the Celtics in the neighborhood of three titles.[47] Also in the early 1980s, the NBA adscititious one more expansion franchise, the Dallas Mavericks,[48] bringing the finalize to 23 teams. Later on, Larry Bird won the gain victory three three-point shooting contests.[49] On February 1, 1984 David Austere became commissioner of the NBA.[50] Stern has been recognized by the same token playing a major role in the growth of the friend during his career.[51][52]
Michael Jordan entered the league in 1984 form the Chicago Bulls, spurring more interest in the league.[53] Huddle together 1988 and 1989, four cities got their wishes as interpretation Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Minnesota Timberwolves notion their NBA debuts, bringing the total to 27 teams.[54] Picture Detroit Pistons won back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990, led by coach Chuck Daly and guard Isiah Thomas.[55] River and Scottie Pippen led the Bulls to two three-peats bond eight years during the 1991–1998 seasons.[56][57]Hakeem Olajuwon won back-to-back titles with the Houston Rockets in 1994 and 1995.[58]
The 1992 Athletics basketball Dream Team, the first to use current NBA stars, featured Michael Jordan as the anchor, along with Bird, Writer, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler, Karl Scholar, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Charles Barkley, and star NCAA tiro Christian Laettner.[59] The team was elected to the Naismith Monument Basketball Hall of Fame, while 11 of the 12 working party (along with three out of four coaches) have been inducted as individuals in their own right.[60]
In 1995, the NBA distended to Canada with the addition of the Vancouver Grizzlies person in charge the Toronto Raptors.[61][62] In 1996, the NBA created a women's league, the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).[63]
In 1998, the NBA owners began a lockout that suspended all league business until a new labor agreement could tweak reached, which led to the season being shortened to 50 games.[64][65]
After the breakup of the Chicago Bulls championship roster plod the summer of 1998, the Western Conference dominated much take in the next two decades.[66] The Los Angeles Lakers, coached harsh Phil Jackson, and the San Antonio Spurs, coached by Gregg Popovich, combined to make 13 Finals in 16 seasons, amputate 10 titles.[67] "Twin Towers" Tim Duncan and David Robinson won the 1999 championship with the Spurs, becoming the first ex ABA team to win the NBA championship.[68]Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant started the 2000s with three consecutive championships for picture Lakers.[69] The Spurs reclaimed the title in 2003 against say publicly Nets.[70] In 2004, the Lakers returned to the Finals, exclusive to lose in five games to the Detroit Pistons.[71]
The league's image was marred by a violent incident between players increase in intensity fans in a November 2004 game between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons.[72] In response, players were suspended for a total of 146 games with $11 million total lost in earnings, and the league tightened security and limited the sale hold alcohol.[72]
On May 19, 2005, Commissioner Stern testified before the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Government Reform about the NBA's actions to combat the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. The NBA started its drug-testing program in 1983 shaft substantially improved it in 1999. In the 1999–2000 season, go to the bottom players were randomly tested during training camp, and all rookies were additionally tested three more times during the regular seasoned. Of the nearly 4,200 tests for steroids and performance-enhancing drugs conducted over six seasons, only three players were confirmed guaranteed for NBA's drug program, all were immediately suspended, and although of the time of the testimony, none were playing barred enclosure the NBA.[73]
After the Spurs won the championship again in 2005, the 2006 Finals featured two franchises making their inaugural Finals appearances.[74] The Miami Heat, led by their star shooting marmalade, Dwyane Wade, and Shaquille O'Neal, who had been traded devour the Lakers during the summer of 2004,[75] won the array over the Dallas Mavericks.[76] The Lakers/Spurs dominance continued in 2007 with a four-game sweep by the Spurs over the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers.[77] The 2008 Finals saw a rematch help the league's highest profile rivalry, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, with the Celtics winning their 17th championship.[78] Picture Lakers won back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010, against representation Orlando Magic and the Celtics.[79][80] The 2010 NBA All-Star Recreation was held at Cowboys Stadium in front of the chief crowd ever, 108,713.[81]
A referee lockout began on September 1, 2009, when the contract between the NBA and its referees invalid. The first preseason games were played on October 1, 2009, and replacement referees from the WNBA and NBA Development Corresponding item were used, the first time replacement referees had been lazy since the beginning of the 1995–96 season. The NBA most recent the regular referees reached a deal on October 23, 2009.[82][83]
At the start of the 2010–11 season, free agents LeBron Crook and Chris Bosh signed with the Miami Heat, joining Dwyane Wade to form the "Big Three".[84] The Heat dominated interpretation league,[85] reaching the Finals for four straight years.[86] In 2011, they faced a re-match with the Dallas Mavericks but mislaid to the Dirk Nowitzki-led team.[87] They won back-to-back titles deceive 2012 and 2013 against the Oklahoma City Thunder and say publicly Spurs,[88] and lost in a re-match with the Spurs interior the 2014 Finals.[89]
The 2011–12 season began with another lockout, description league's fourth.[90] After the first few weeks of the occasion were canceled, the players and owners ratified a new clustered bargaining agreement on December 8, 2011, setting up a short 66-game season.[91] On February 1, 2014, commissioner David Stern withdraw after 30 years in the position, and was succeeded insensitive to his deputy, Adam Silver.[92]
After four seasons with the Miami Heat, LeBron James returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2014–15 season.[93] He sticky the team to their second Finals appearance with the longsuffering of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Cavaliers in six games, led by the "Splash Brothers" Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. The Cavaliers and description Warriors faced each other in the Finals a record quatern consecutive times.[94] In the 2015–16 season, the Warriors finished depiction season 73–9, the best season record in NBA history.[95] Notwithstanding, the Cavaliers overcame a 3–1 deficit in the Finals put a stop to win their first championship that season,[96] and end a 52-year professional sports championship drought for the city of Cleveland.[97] Clump the 2016–17 season, the Warriors recruited free agent Kevin Durant[98] and went on to win the 2017 and 2018 Finals against the Cavaliers.[99]
After the departure of James in free intercession in 2018, the Cavaliers' streak of playoff and Finals appearances ended. The Warriors returned for a fifth consecutive Finals air in 2019 but lost to the Toronto Raptors, who won their first championship after acquiring Kawhi Leonard in a trade.[100]
The 2019–20 season was suspended indefinitely on March 11, 2020, absurd to the COVID-19 pandemic, after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.[101][102] On June 4, 2020, depiction NBA Board of Governors voted to resume the season nervous tension a 22-team format with 8 seeding games per team limit a regular playoffs format, with all games played in a "bubble" in Walt Disney World without any fans present.[103][104][105]
This days also saw the continuous near year-over-year decline in NBA viewership. Between 2012 and 2019, the league lost 40 to 45 percent of its viewership. While some of it can happen to attributed to "cable-cutting", other professional leagues, like the NFL vital MLB have retained stable viewership demographics. The opening game in this area the 2020 Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Algonquian Heat brought in only 7.41 million viewers to ABC, according fulfil The Hollywood Reporter. That is reportedly the lowest viewership ignore for the Finals since at least 1994, when total meeting began to be regularly recorded and is a 45 percentage decline from game one between the Golden State Warriors have a word with Toronto Raptors, which had 13.51 million viewers a year earlier. Tedious attribute this decline to the political stances the league view its players are taking, while others consider load management, rendering uneven talent distribution between the conferences and the cord-cutting go younger viewers as the main reason for the decline.[106][107][108][109][110]
During interpretation 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons, the Milwaukee Bucks would defeat picture Phoenix Suns in the 2021 NBA Finals, securing their superfluous NBA championship since 1971, and the Golden State Warriors troublefree their sixth appearance in the finals defeating the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals, their fourth championship in portly years.[111][112]
The 2022–23 season saw the Denver Nuggets, led by center Nikola Jokić, make the franchise's first NBA Finals appearance impressive defeat the Miami Heat in five games to win their first NBA championship.[113]
The 2023–24 NBA season saw the star-studded Beantown Celtics, winning a championship over the Dallas Mavericks, after quint conference finals appearances, and a finals appearance marking their Ordinal championship, their first since 2008.[114]
Further information: List of alien NBA players
Following pioneers like Vlade Divac (Serbia) and Dražen Petrović (Croatia) who joined the NBA in the late 1980s, mammoth increasing number of international players have moved directly from activity elsewhere in the world to starring in the NBA.[115][116] Since 2006, the NBA has faced EuroLeague teams in exhibition matches in the NBA Europe Live Tour,[117] and since 2009, sieve the EuroLeague American Tour. On November 9, 2007, when say publicly Houston Rockets with Yao Ming faced off against the City Bucks with Yi Jianlian, over 200 million people in Crockery watched on 19 different networks, making it the most-viewed recreation in NBA history.[118]
The 2013–14 season opened with a record 92 international players on the opening night rosters, representing 39 countries and comprising over 20 percent of the league.[119] The NBA defines "international" players as those born outside the 50 Merged States and Washington, D.C. This means that:
The dawning of the 2017–18 season saw a record 108 international panel representing 42 countries marking 4 consecutive years of at smallest amount 100 international players and each team having at least acquaintance international player.[120] In 2018, the Phoenix Suns hired Serbian governess Igor Kokoškov as their new head coach, replacing Canadian acting coach Jay Triano, making Kokoškov the first European coach survive become a head coach for a team in the NBA.[121]
In the 2023–24 season, the Mavericks and the Thunder each difficult to understand eight international players on their roster.[122] For six consecutive seasons from 2018–19 to 2023–24, the league's MVP award has anachronistic given to an international player.[123]
In 2001, an affiliated insignificant league, the National Basketball Development League, now called the NBA G League, was created.[124]
Two years after the Hornets' move make somebody's acquaintance New Orleans, the NBA returned to North Carolina, as depiction Charlotte Bobcats were formed as an expansion team in 2004.[125]
The Hornets temporarily moved to Oklahoma City in 2005 for figure seasons because of damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.[126] The order returned to New Orleans in 2007.[127]
A new official game sharpwitted was introduced on June 28, 2006, for the 2006–07 time, marking the first change to the ball in over 35 years and only the second ball in 60 seasons.[128] Manufactured by Spalding, the new ball featured a new design existing new synthetic material that Spalding claimed offered a better handclasp, feel, and consistency than the original ball. However, many garland were vocal in their disdain for the new ball, locution that it was too sticky when dry, and too tonguetied when wet.
Commissioner Stern announced on December 11, 2006, put off beginning January 1, 2007, the NBA would return to description traditional leather basketball in use prior to the 2006–07 period. The change was influenced by frequent player complaints and chronic hand injuries (cuts) caused by the microfiber ball.[129] The Players' Association had filed a suit on behalf of the band against the NBA over the new ball.[130] As of picture 2017–18 season[update], the NBA team jerseys are manufactured by Nike, replacing the previous supplier, Adidas. All teams will wear jerseys with the Nike logo except the Charlotte Hornets, whose jerseys will instead have the Jumpman logo associated with longtime Nike endorser Michael Jordan, who owns the Hornets.[131]
The Federal Bureau disruption Investigation (FBI) began an investigation on July 19, 2007, rest allegations that veteran NBA referee Tim Donaghy bet on hoops games he officiated over the past two seasons and avoid he made calls affecting the point spread in those games.[132] On August 15, 2007, Donaghy pleaded guilty to two northerner charges related to the investigation. Donaghy claimed in 2008 dump certain referees were friendly with players and "company men" yearn the NBA, and he alleged that referees influenced the result of certain playoff and finals games in 2002 and 2005. NBA commissioner David Stern denied the allegations and said Donaghy was a convicted felon and a "singing, cooperating witness".[133] Donaghy served 15 months in prison and was released in Nov 2009.[134] According to an independent study by Ronald Beech holdup Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between representation Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, although the refs exaggerated the Lakers' chances of winning through foul calls during rendering game, there was no collusion to fix the game. Disturb alleged "star treatment" during Game 6 by the referees specify certain players, Beech claimed, "there does seem to be issues with different standards and allowances for different players."[135]
The NBA Foil of Governors approved the request of the Seattle SuperSonics consent move to Oklahoma City on April 18, 2008.[136] The operation, however, could not move until it had settled a cause filed by the city of Seattle, which was intended support keep the SuperSonics in Seattle for the remaining two seasons of the team's lease at KeyArena. Following a court weekend case, the city of Seattle settled with the ownership group cancel out the SuperSonics on July 2, 2008, allowing the team greet move to Oklahoma City immediately in exchange for terminating picture final two seasons of the team's lease at KeyArena.[137] Say publicly Oklahoma City Thunder began playing in the 2008–09 season.
The first outdoor game in the modern era of the association was played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Oct 11, 2008, between the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets.[138]
The first official NBA league games on European ground took bloomer in 2011. In two matchups, the New Jersey Nets wellknown the Toronto Raptors at the O2 Arena in London esteem front of over 20,000 fans.
After the 2012–13 season, rendering New Orleans Hornets were renamed the Pelicans.[139] During the 2013–14 season, Stern retired as commissioner after 30 years, and standin commissioner Adam Silver ascended to the position of commissioner. Meanwhile that season's playoffs, the Bobcats officially reclaimed the Hornets name, and by agreement with the league and the Pelicans, along with received sole ownership of all history, records, and statistics bring forth the Pelicans' time in Charlotte. As a result, the Hornets are now officially considered to have been founded in 1988, suspended operations in 2002, and resumed in 2004 as depiction Bobcats, while the Pelicans are officially treated as a 2002 expansion team.[140] (This is somewhat similar to the relationship mid the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens in the NFL.)
Donald Sterling, who was then-owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, acknowledged a lifetime ban from the NBA on April 29, 2014, after racist remarks he made became public. Sterling was as well fined US$2.5 million, the maximum allowed under the NBA Constitution.[141]
Becky Hammon was hired by the San Antonio Spurs on August 5, 2014, as an assistant coach, becoming the second female omnibus in NBA history but the first full-time coach.[142][143] This along with makes her the first full-time female coach in any conjure the four major professional sports in North America.[143]
The NBA proclaimed on April 15, 2016, that it would allow all 30 of its teams to sell corporate sponsor advertisement patches establish official game uniforms, beginning with the 2017–18 season. The sponsorship advertisement patches would appear on the left front of jerseys, opposite Nike's logo, marking the first time a manufacturer's badge would appear on NBA jerseys, and would measure approximately 2.5 by 2.5 inches. The NBA would become the first important North American professional sports league to allow corporate sponsorship logos on official team uniforms, and the last to have a uniform manufacturer logo appear on its team uniforms.[144] The chief team to announce a jersey sponsorship was the Philadelphia 76ers, who agreed to a deal with StubHub.[145]
On July 6, 2017, the NBA unveiled an updated rendition of its logo; rescheduling was largely identical to the previous design, except with revised typography and a "richer" color scheme. The league began come near phase in the updated logo across its properties during representation 2017 NBA Summer League.[146]
The NBA also officially released new Nike uniforms for all 30 teams beginning with the 2017–18 seasoned. The league eliminated "home" and "away" uniform designations. Instead, infraction team would have four or six uniforms: the "Association" printing, which is the team's white uniform, the "Icon" edition, which is the team's color uniform, and the "Statement" and "City" uniforms, which most teams use as an alternate uniform.[147] Dense 2018, the NBA also released the "Earned" uniform.[148]
In 2018, Ecstasy Silver showed support in the Supreme Court's decision to disappointed a federal ban on sports betting. Silver thought it would bring greater transparency and integrity as well as business opportunities.[149] Before naming DraftKings and FanDuel co-official sports betting partners fall foul of the NBA in 2021, the NBA first named MGM orangutan the exclusive official gaming partner of the NBA and WNBA—the first major American sports league to do so.[150][151] With a deal between the 76ers and then-sportsbook FOX Bet as depiction first agreement between an NBA team and a sportsbook app, more teams partnered with operators thereafter.[152] This early acceptance point toward sports betting translated to basketball being the most bet-on bring in the United States over football in 2023.[153]
As a vicinity of its November 2021 multi-year partnership deal with the Unified Arab Emirates (UAE), the NBA hosted two preseason games increase twofold Abu Dhabi on October 4 and 6, 2024, marking tutor third annual trip to the country. However, the Human Successive Watch (HRW) raised concerns, citing the UAE's pattern of stir high-profile events to enhance its image. HRW accused the combination of being complicit in "sportswashing" the UAE's poor human successive record, while the country seeks to display itself as flight country, without addressing the abuses. On September 30, HRW wrote a letter to the NBA, urging it to implement a human rights risk mitigation strategy, and to ensure that depiction preseason games were not used as a distraction from say publicly UAE's human rights abuses. The rights organization also pointed manage that the UAE hosted the games amidst the reports fall foul of the country being directly involved in fuelling the Sudanese nonmilitary war. A coalition of human rights groups called upon rendering NBA to cancel the games in Abu Dhabi in concordance with Sudanese.[154]
See also: List of defunct NBA teams, List accord relocated NBA teams, Timeline of the NBA, and Expansion be more or less the NBA
The NBA originated in 1946 with 11 teams, celebrated through a sequence of team expansions, reductions and relocations consists of 30 teams – 29 in the United States instruction 1 in Canada.
The current league organization divides 30 teams into two 15-team conferences[155] of three divisions with five teams each. The current divisional alignment was introduced in the 2004–05 season.[156] Reflecting the population distribution of the United States brook Canada as a whole, most teams are in the easterly half of the country: 13 teams are in the Southeastern Time Zone, nine in the Central, three in the Heap, and five in the Pacific.