The NFL has 17 games. The MLB has 162 games. The NHL has 82 games. But how many games are in the NBA regular season?
The NBA (like the NHL) has an 82-game regular season. But why? How long has it been this way? And will it always be this way? In this article, we try to answer those questions (and much more).
The History of The 82-Game Regular Season
The NBA has been playing 82 regular season games since 1967-68, when the the San Diego Rockets and Seattle SuperSonics joined the league. Before that, the league was playing between 66 and 80 games in the regular season.
In 1961-62, teams began playing 80 games in the regular season. Then, in 1966-67, they added a number to that to make the overall total 81. But since the increase in 1967-68, the league has kept that number the same. Now, we are going on 57 years of the 82-game regular season.
With that said, there are some exceptions. For instance, the 1998-99 and 2011-12 regular seasons were shortened to 50 and 66 games due to lockouts. Meanwhile, the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons were shortened to 72 games due to COVID-19.
Will It Stay At 82 Games?
As for the reason why the NBA has stuck with 82 games, here is what ESPN NBA Analyst Kevin Arnovitz had to say about it in a 2011 article: "Nobody can really tell you – not the NBA scheduler, those who work in the NBA offices in New York, nor historians of the game."
Over the years, there have been a lot of people clamoring for a shortened regular season. The people advocating for it usually claim that it will decrease injuries and make that portion of the season more competitive (since every game will become more meaningful). However, given the NBA's desire to maximize revenue, it seems unlikely that we will see any change to this number any time soon.
How does the 82-game schedule impact the Sacramento Kings
For the Sacramento Kings, the 82-game is kind of a double-edged sword. On one end, our up-tempo style has helped our players build up their stamina and endurance to elite levels, even compared to other NBA athletes.
On the other end, though, our 2023-24 season was kind of ruined by the injuries suffered by Malik Monk (who did us a huge favor this offseason) and Kevin Huerter. So, it is hard to argue that the 82-game season affects us one way or the other.