NBA
Sports abbreviation · Sports League and Organization
| Stands for | National Basketball Association |
|---|---|
| Categories | Sports |
NBA stands for National Basketball Association, a sports league and organization abbreviation.
Premier men's professional basketball league, made up of 30 teams: 29 in the United States and the Toronto Raptors in Canada. Each team plays an 82-game regular season from October to April, followed by a play-in tournament, four rounds of best-of-seven playoffs and the NBA Finals in June.
Example: Victor Wembanyama was the unanimous choice for NBA Rookie of the Year in 2024.
Usage notes
Formed in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America and renamed the NBA in 1949 after absorbing teams from the rival National Basketball League. Four ABA clubs (Denver, Indiana, San Antonio and the New York Nets) joined in 1976. The play-in tournament for seeds 7 through 10 became permanent in 2021-22, and an in-season tournament, now the NBA Cup, began in 2023. The league office is in New York City.
Related abbreviations
More sports league and organization abbreviations
- MiLB – Minor League Baseball
- MLB – Major League Baseball
- MLBPA – Major League Baseball Players Association
- MLS – Major League Soccer
- NAIA – National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
- NASCAR – National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing
- NBL – National Basketball League (Australia)
- NBPA – National Basketball Players Association
- NCAA – National Collegiate Athletic Association
- NFL – National Football League
- NFLPA – National Football League Players Association
- NHL – National Hockey League