The National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. It is widely considered to be the premier men's professional basketball league in the world. The league was founded in 1946 in New York City as the Basketball Association of America (BAA) with 11 teams.
In 1949, the BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to become the National Basketball Association with 17 teams. After the addition of the Chicago Packers in 1961 as the league's 18th team, the NBA witnessed non-stop expansion.
New teams were added nearly each season, culminating with the creation of the Charlotte Bobcats in 2004. While several teams have gone through rebranding and location changes, the number of teams in the NBA have remained the same for nearly decades now.
Number of NBA Teams
There are 30 teams in the National Basketball Association as of 2023. These 30 NBA teams are split between two conferences - the Eastern and the Western Conference, with 15 teams in each conference. The conferences and divisions were introduced in the 1970/71 season when the league had only 17 teams.
The 15 teams in the Eastern Conference are further divided into three divisions:
Atlantic Division: Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors.
Central Division: Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks.
Southeast Division: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards.
Similarly, the 15 teams in the Western Conference are grouped into three divisions:
Northwest Division: Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz.
Pacific Division: Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings.
Southwest Division: Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, San Antonio Spurs.
This framework allows teams to play more games against divisional rivals and builds regional rivalries between teams in the same region. After the regular season, eight teams from each conference advance to the playoffs each season.
FAQs
A. No, out of 50 states only 21 have their NBA teams as of December 2023.
A. There are 14 participating teams in the NBA Draft Lottery.
A. No, the NBA has 30 teams, 15 divided in each conference.
A. There are five teams in every division.
