NBA / Facts & Stats

NBA facts, stats and rules

Court sizes, the rim, the ball and the length of the season in the National Basketball Association, with sources and dates.

Basketball player reaching up to lay the ball into a hoop in a dark arena (AI-generated image)AI
AI-generated image

How the league is organised

The National Basketball Association has 30 teams in two conferences, with three divisions in each conference. Each team plays 82 regular-season games, so the schedule contains 1,230 games, because every game counts for two teams. The league was founded at the Commodore Hotel in New York in 1946.

The rims hang 10 feet from the floor, at opposite ends of a court that is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide. Under Rule 1 of the rulebook the ring has an inside diameter of 18 inches, and the three-point line is an arc of 23 feet, 9 inches from the middle of the basket, joined to two straight lines 3 feet from the sidelines.

The pages below start from the rulebook and the league's own pages. Where two official pages give different figures, the rulebook is treated as the authority and the page says so. Each page shows the date its figures were last checked. The sources are the NBA rulebook and the league's overview page.

NBA pages

Average NBA career lengthHow many seasons NBA players last, from 691 players who debuted between 2003 and 2012, with the breakdown by position and by debut class.Basketball air pressureThe pressure range in the NBA rulebook, why another NBA page gives a different range, and how officials check the ball.Distance of the NBA 3-point lineThe official distance of the NBA three-point line, how the corner sections are drawn, and what the rulebook says about the shooter's feet.Do basketball teams switch sides?Which basket each team uses, who chooses it, when the teams change and why overtime does not change baskets again.Does basketball make you tallerWhat a review of studies on exercise and growth found about basketball and height, what genes explain, and why basketball players are tall.Dribbling with both handsWhat the NBA rules say about dribbling with both hands, how a dribble ends, and when a second dribble is a violation.Height of NBA rimsThe official rim height, the ring and backboard sizes and the rules that cover the basket, from the NBA rulebook.How long the basketball season lastsThe 82-game NBA season in games and days, with the 2025-26 and 2026-27 dates, the NBA Cup, the play-in and the playoffs.How many overtimes in basketballHow the NBA handles a tied score: five-minute overtime periods with no stated limit, the break before them and how baskets and fouls carry over.How many steps in basketballThe two-step rule in the NBA playing rules: what the gather is, what counts as a step, how the pivot foot works and when traveling is called.How often NBA players get paidThe pay schedule in the NBA collective bargaining agreement: 24 semi-monthly payments, the 12 and 36 payment options, advances and what a team may not pay for.Illegal defense in basketballWhat the 2025-26 NBA rules say about zone defense, double teams and the defensive three-second violation that replaced the older illegal defense idea.Is basketball a contact sport?How the NBA rules draw the line between legal and illegal contact, including the personal foul, the flagrant foul and the block-charge rules.Players on a basketball teamHow many players an NBA team plays with, the minimum it must dress and what the rules say when players foul out or leave.Referee duties before the gameWhat the NBA rules require of the officials before tip-off: equipment inspection, the active list, the captains' meeting and the warm-up.Using the forearm in basketballWhen a defender may apply a forearm to a player with the ball under the NBA rules, and when the same contact is a foul.What PF means in basketballThe two meanings of PF, personal fouls and power forward, plus the NBA rules on personal fouls, the sixth-foul limit and team fouls.