The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional men’s basketball league in the United States and Canada. The league was founded in 1946 and currently has 30 teams across the country. The NBA is also a global sport, with teams in China, Russia and other countries. The NBA is one of the most popular sports in the world, and its players are among the highest paid in the sports industry.
The league is governed by the NBA Board of Governors, which oversees all aspects of the NBA’s operations and sets the salary cap. The Board also approves player trades and determines the number of import and domestic players each team may have on its roster. The NBA has also established rules governing player discipline and the length of suspensions.
Aside from the salary cap, the NBA also sets a minimum number of games that each team must play during the regular season. During the playoffs, teams are seeded according to their records. The top eight seeds in each conference advance to the semifinals, where they are paired against teams with similar records. The first team to win four games in the best-of-seven series wins the championship. The winning team receives the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
Despite the league’s popularity, the NBA faces several challenges. Most notably, the value of individual teams has ballooned out of proportion to the league’s overall revenues. This is largely due to the 2014 sale of the Los Angeles Clippers for a record $2 billion. The average sale price of an NBA team has tripled since 2012.
Injuries are a major problem for the league. The game is highly physical and played by large athletes. The risk of injury is further increased by the frequent changes in plays and the speed at which the ball travels across the court.
An analysis of the league’s injury data shows that there is no correlation between the injury rate and a player’s height or weight, or his or her years in the NBA. However, injuries are still the most common reason for a player to miss a game.
The nba is a high-contact sport and the injuries are typically severe. Some of the most commonly reported injuries are knee ligament damage, shoulder problems, and concussions. Despite the risks, the sport remains popular worldwide, with millions of fans watching NBA games each week.
The NBA has introduced many innovations to improve the game. In 1954, the league introduced a 24-second shot clock to encourage shooting and discourage stalling. The nba also expanded in the 1960s with the move of the Minneapolis Lakers to Los Angeles and the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco, as well as the addition of its first expansion franchises. These changes have helped to increase the popularity of the nba and make it an international phenomenon. In addition, the NBA is working to promote its image as a family-friendly sport. It is the only major American professional sports league to allow children to attend games without a parent or guardian.