The National Basketball Association (NBA) is an American professional sports league, founded in June 1946 in New York City. The NBA has grown from a small club with nine teams to one of the world’s largest sports leagues, with 30 teams competing in two conferences. The NBA is more than world-class competition on the court; it is a global organization that seeks to unify fans, players and communities through sport.
The current NBA structure divides 30 teams into two 15-team conferences, each divided further into three divisions, reflecting population distribution throughout the United States and Canada. The divisional alignment was introduced in the 2004–05 season. The ten teams with the most wins in each conference, plus the three best runner-ups, compete in the playoffs for the right to challenge the winners of the other conference in a best-of-seven championship series. The NBA Finals typically take place in late June or July, although the series can start as early as May. The winner of the championship series receives the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, and the coaches and general managers of both finalists are awarded rings.
During the regular season, each team plays 82 games. Four of those games are against the other teams in the same division, three or four (determined by a lottery) against teams from other divisions in the same conference, and two against teams from the other conference. The teams that win the most games in each division and in each conference advance to the playoffs, where they compete for the NBA championship.
While the NBA has long been a professional league, it is not subject to the same regulation as a federally chartered business corporation, and its members do not have fiduciary duties toward each other. However, the league could be considered a joint venture partnership under state organization law, in which case it would owe fiduciary duties to its member team-owners and could be subject to judicial expulsion of a recalcitrant member.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has made it clear that the league’s priorities are preserving labor peace and getting a new media deal, not adding more expansion franchises. Nonetheless, several cities, including Las Vegas and Seattle, have expressed interest in hosting an NBA team.
The NBA is a league of athletes, fans, owners and executives who come together around a common passion for the game. In addition to providing world-class competition on the basketball court, the NBA brings people together through community outreach programs, in-game fan experiences and a commitment to diversity and inclusion. The NBA also stands for the power of women through the WNBA, which celebrates and elevates the game of basketball while promoting social responsibility. For all of these reasons, the NBA is more than just a sport—it’s a way of life.