The game
The 2025–26 Official Playing Rules say all periods of regulation play are twelve minutes, and that overtime periods are five minutes. Each team consists of five players.
NBA
NBA
Thirty clubs, an 82-game regular season, a Play-In, and a champion decided in the NBA Finals.
History · Teams · Playoffs · Larry O’Brien Trophy · Contact
A short history
NBA.com’s About the NBA page says the league that would become the NBA was founded at the Commodore Hotel in New York in 1946. Maurice Podoloff was the first president, a title later changed to commissioner. Eleven teams were part of that league, originally called the Basketball Association of America.
The same page says the BAA merged with the National Basketball League in 1949 to form the modern NBA.
NBA.com’s 2026–27 schedule announcement calls that season the league’s 81st regular season and names the New York Knicks as the defending NBA champion.
Current teams
30 clubs from the published list. Open a club for its desk. Clubs from the NBA team file on this desk.
Northwest
Pacific
Playoffs
NBA.com’s 2026–27 schedule announcement says the regular season runs October 20, 2026, to April 11, 2027, and that each club plays 82 games. The SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament is April 13–16. Teams seeded seventh through 10th in each conference compete for the final two playoff berths in their conference.
Sports in 60’s NBA guide, citing NBA.com’s Play-In page, says seeds 1–6 in each conference are in. Seeds 7–10 play three Play-In games per conference: 7 hosts 8 for the 7-seed; 9 hosts 10; then the 7/8 loser hosts the 9/10 winner for the 8-seed.
That same sourced guide says first-round pairings are 1–8, 2–7, 3–6, and 4–5, and that every series from there, including the NBA Finals, is best-of-seven.
Larry O’Brien Trophy
NBA.com’s note on the 2026 Finals courts says the Larry O’Brien Trophy is the one given to the winner of the Finals.
NBA.com’s postseason-hardware announcement calls that trophy the league’s championship hardware, awarded to the NBA champion.
Contact
League office
National Basketball Association
645 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10022
(212) 407-8000
How it works
The shot clock
Rule No. 7 says the shot clock starts at 24 seconds unless that rule provides otherwise. The ball has to leave the shooter’s hand before the clock expires and then make contact with the basket ring.
NBA Cup
The 2026–27 schedule announcement says 80 of each club’s 82 games are assigned on release. The other two are set from Emirates NBA Cup 2026 Group Play. Group Play is 60 games on Cup Nights from October 30 through November 27, plus November 24 and 25. Knockout rounds run December 4–11.
The clubs
The team file on this site groups the 30 clubs into the Eastern Conference (Atlantic, Central, Southeast) and the Western Conference (Northwest, Pacific, Southwest).
Sources
2026–27 regular-season schedule
Larry O’Brien Trophy at the 2026 Finals
EEA/UK privacy statement (office address and phone)
NBA Official: Rule No. 1, court dimensions
NBA Official: Rule No. 5, scoring and timing