NBA

The 2025-26 NBA season is the 80th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season begins on October 21st, 2025, and ends on April 12, 2026.

The 2025-26 NBA season will feature the NBA In-Season Tournament, which is the latest concept of the league. This move has been made primarily to add a bit more excitement.

1. NBA Scores
2. NBA Playoffs and Play-In Tournament
3. NBA Standings
4. NBA Schedule
5. NBA Draft
6. NBA Teams
7. NBA Power Rankings
8. NBA Trade Rumors
9. NBA Rankings
10. FAQs

NBA Scores

In the NBA, a point is scored by a team when the basketball goes through a hoop, that is placed 10 feet high. But it doesn’t end there, as there are different ways to score points.

If a team scores a basket, throwing it from within 22 feet of the basket, the team will be awarded 2 points. However, if the shot is taken from more than 22 feet away from the basket the team will get 3 points. There is an arc on the court to represent the 3-point line.

Further, if a player gets fouled while shooting within the 3-point line, and the player misses the basket, the team will be awarded two free throws, each shot worth one point. If the same is done from outside the three-point line, the player will be awarded three free throws. A single free throw is awarded if the player makes the shot while being fouled.

Teams can also be awarded free throws if a player on the opposing team is found eliciting inappropriate behavior of any kind, and is given a technical foul by the referee.

NBA Playoffs and Play-In Tournament

After all the teams have completed the 82-game regular season, the top 6 franchises from each conference directly enter the postseason, known as the NBA Playoffs.

Teams placed 7 to 10 in each conference participate in the NBA Play-In Tournament to decide the 7th and 8th seeds. The 7th and 8th placed teams get two chances to qualify for the NBA Playoffs, while the 9th and 10th placed teams must win two games in a row to qualify for the postseason. As a result, the Play-In Tournament comprises three games in either conference with the following format:

1. Game 1: Team #7 vs Team #8 (Winner qualifies as 7th seed)
2. Game 2: Team #9 vs Team #10 (Loser gets eliminated)
3. Game 3: Loser of Game 1 vs Winner of Game 2 (Winner qualifies as 8th seed, loser gets eliminated)

During the postseason, each team plays against another team from their own conference in a 7-game series, where the first team to win 4 games moves on to the next round. A team goes through 3 rounds of intense playoff series before reaching the NBA Finals, where the champions of the Eastern and Western conferences face off against each other. The winner here would win an NBA Championship, bringing the NBA Playoffs to a close.

The 2025-26 NBA Play-In Tournament is slated to take place from October 31 to December 16. The 2025/26 NBA Playoffs are scheduled to begin on April 18, and the NBA Finals will begin on June 4, 2026.

NBA Standings

As mentioned before, the NBA is divided into two conferences, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. As we wait for the 2025-26 NBA season to begin, here is a look at the final standings for the 2024-25 regular season for both conferences. The standings have been adjusted to account for the 2024-25 NBA season.

Eastern Conference

1. Cleveland Cavaliers
2. Boston Celtics
3. New York Knicks
4. Indiana Pacers
5. Milwaukee Bucks
6. Detroit Pistons
7. Orlando Magic
8. Miami Heat
9. Atlanta Hawks
10. Chicago Bulls
11. Toronto Raptors
12. Brooklyn Nets
13. Philadelphia 76ers
14. Charlotte Hornets
15. Washington Wizards

Western Conference

1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. Houston Rockets
3. Los Angeles Lakers
4. Denver Nuggets
5. Los Angeles Clippers
6. Minnesota Timberwolves
7. Golden State Warriors
8. Memphis Grizzlies
9. Sacramento Kings
10. Dallas Mavericks
11. Phoenix Suns
12. Portland Trail Blazers
13. San Antonio Spurs
14. New Orleans Pelicans
15. Utah Jazz

NBA Schedule

As mentioned before, each team plays 82 games in the regular season, with the purpose of deciding the top 6 teams in each conference that will qualify for the NBA Playoffs with teams placed 7th to 10th going through the grind of the NBA Play-In Tournament. The league schedules some of the best and most interesting games on Opening Day and Christmas Day, making them the most popular days for NBA fans apart from the All-Star Weekend.

Another key staple of the NBA is the All-Star Weekend. This lasts for three days, where the best players in the league face off in a myriad of competitions. The best rookies and sophomores from the season compete in the Rising Stars Challenge, which takes place on Friday. This is preceded by the Celebrity Game, where celebs from all walks of life come together to play a friendly game. Saturday is all about fun mini-games such as the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest, and the Slam Dunk Contest. All of these are followed by the main event of the weekend on Sunday, the NBA All-Star Game.

The 2025-26 NBA All-Star Game will be played at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, on February 15, 2026.

NBA Draft

The NBA Draft is an annual event through which some of the top prospects from around the world, who have declared their availability for the NBA will be chosen by one of the 30 NBA teams. The order to determine who chooses when is decided by the wins-to-losses ratio of each team throughout the previous year’s regular season.

The 14 teams that don't qualify for the playoffs participate in the NBA Draft Lottery. The three teams with the most losses in the previous season will have the highest odds of winning the first overall pick. All the remaining teams in the lottery will have reduced odds of landing the No.1 pick, with the odds being inversely proportional to the number of wins that the said team has.

The 2025 NBA Draft was held on June 25 and June 2026, 2025, at the Barclays Center. The Dallas Mavericks held the first overall pick, and they drafted Cooper Flagg.

NBA Teams

There are 30 total teams in the NBA, with 29 teams representing a certain city from the United States of America and 1 team from Canada. The following is a complete list of all the teams in the NBA:

1. LA Lakers
2. Milwaukee Bucks
3. LA Clippers
4. Toronto Raptors
5. Denver Nuggets
6. Boston Celtics
7. Houston Rockets
8. Indiana Pacers
9. Oklahoma City Thunder
10. Miami Heat
11. Utah Jazz
12. Philadelphia 76ers
13. Dallas Mavericks
14. Brooklyn Nets
15. Portland Trail Blazers
16. Orlando Magic
17. Memphis Grizzlies
18. Washington Wizards
19. Phoenix Suns
20. Charlotte Hornets
21. San Antonio Spurs
22. Chicago Bulls
23. Sacramento Kings
24. New York Knicks
25. New Orleans Pelicans
26. Detroit Pistons
27. Minnesota Timberwolves
28. Atlanta Hawks
29. Golden State Warriors
30. Cleveland Cavaliers

NBA Power Rankings

For the last half-decade, the Golden State Warriors have dominated the NBA power rankings, housing a team that was simply out of this world. But during the 2024-25 NBA season, many teams, like the Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, and New York Knicks, have become formidable teams and threaten to steal the throne.

NBA Power Rankings as of November 2025 -

1. Oklahoma City Thunder 2. Houston Rockets3. Cleveland Cavaliers4. Los Angeles Lakers5. Denver Nuggets6. New York Knicks7. Orlando Magic8. Detroit Pistons9. Miami Heat10. Minnesota Timberwolves11. Atlanta Hawks12. San Antonio Spurs13. Toronto Raptors14. Boston Celtics15. Philadelphia 76ers16. Golden State Warriors17. LA Clippers18. Milwaukee Bucks19. Phoenix Suns20. Memphis Grizzlies21. Dallas Mavericks22. Portland Trail Blazers23. Chicago Bulls24. Charlotte Hornets25. New Orleans Pelicans26. Sacramento Kings27. Indiana Pacers28. Utah Jazz29. Brooklyn Nets30. Washington Wizards

NBA Trade Rumors

Throughout the NBA season and the off-season, the NBA is filled with trade rumors that, as the name suggests, cover stories about players potentially moving teams, what the chances of the trade happening at all are, and so on. Trade rumors are provided by NBA insiders who work with several sports news media outlets to deliver the latest scoop that they're aware of.

NBA Rankings

During the regular season, the NBA ranking of a team is decided based on their win-loss ratio. The top 8 NBA teams from each conference (following the conclusion of the NBA Play-In Tournament) qualify for the postseason. The 8th-ranked team goes up against the franchise placed at the 1st spot in that conference in the NBA Playoffs, while the 7th seed goes up against the 2nd. Similarly, the 6th seed faces the team seeded 3rd, and the final first-round series sees teams ranked 4th and 5th take on each other.

NBA rankings also help in determining homecourt advantage. The top 4 teams get to host 4 out of the 7 games in the first round of the playoffs.

FAQs

How long is an NBA game?

An NBA game is 48 minutes long and is divided into four quarters, each 12 minutes long. If a game is tied at the end of 48 minutes, overtime periods of 5 minutes are played, until the two teams aren’t tied anymore.

When do the NBA Playoffs start?

The NBA Playoffs generally start in the second or third week of April, though the exact date varies from season to season.

Who has the most NBA championships?

The Boston Celtics have the most NBA Championships, with 18.