National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a men's professional basketball league. It is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. It is widely considered to be the premier men's professional basketball league in the world.

The NBA was formed in 1949 after the merger of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball League (NBL). Although the NBA does not include the NBL's history as part of its own, this site does.

The NBA merged with the American Basketball Association in 1976, resulting in the addition of four franchises.

Teams

The NBA originated in 1946 with 11 teams, and through a sequence of team expansions, reductions, and relocations, currently consists of 30 teams. The United States is home to 29 teams; another is in Canada.

The current league organization divides 30 teams into two conferences of three divisions with five teams each. The current divisional alignment was introduced in the 2004-05 season. Reflecting the population distribution of the United States and Canada as a whole, most teams are in the eastern half of the country: 13 teams are in the Eastern Time Zone, nine in the Central, three in the Mountain, and five in the Pacific.

Division	Team	Location	Arena	Founded	Joined
Eastern Conference
Atlantic	Boston Celtics	Boston, Massachusetts	TD Garden	1946
	Brooklyn Nets	New York City, New York	Barclays Center	1967*	1976
	New York Knicks	New York City, New York	Madison Square Garden	1946
	Philadelphia 76ers	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Wells Fargo Center	1946*	1949
	Toronto Raptors	Toronto, Ontario	Scotiabank Arena	1995
Central	Chicago Bulls	Chicago, Illinois	United Center	1966
	Cleveland Cavaliers	Cleveland, Ohio	Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse	1970
	Detroit Pistons	Detroit, Michigan	Little Caesars Arena	1941*	1948
	Indiana Pacers	Indianapolis, Indiana	Bankers Life Fieldhouse	1967	1976
	Milwaukee Bucks	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Fiserv Forum	1968
Southeast	Atlanta Hawks	Atlanta, Georgia	State Farm Arena	1946*	1949
	Charlotte Hornets	Charlotte, North Carolina	Spectrum Center	1988*
	Miami Heat	Miami, Florida	American Airlines Arena	1988
	Orlando Magic	Orlando, Florida	Amway Center	1989
	Washington Wizards	Washington, D.C.	Capital One Arena	1961*
Western Conference
Northwest	Denver Nuggets	Denver, Colorado	Pepsi Center	1967	1976
	Minnesota Timberwolves	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Target Center	1989
	Oklahoma City Thunder	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	Chesapeake Energy Arena	1967*
	Portland Trail Blazers	Portland, Oregon	Moda Center	1970
	Utah Jazz	Salt Lake City, Utah	Vivint Smart Home Arena	1974*
Pacific	Golden State Warriors	San Francisco, California	Chase Center	1946*
	Los Angeles Clippers	Los Angeles, California	Staples Center	1970*
	Los Angeles Lakers	Los Angeles, California	Staples Center	1947*	1948
	Phoenix Suns	Phoenix, Arizona	Talking Stick Resort Arena	1968
	Sacramento Kings	Sacramento, California	Golden 1 Center	1923*	1948
Southwest	Dallas Mavericks	Dallas, Texas	American Airlines Center	1980
	Houston Rockets	Houston, Texas	Toyota Center	1967*
	Memphis Grizzlies	Memphis, Tennessee	FedExForum	1995*
	New Orleans Pelicans	New Orleans, Louisiana	Smoothie King Center	2002*
	San Antonio Spurs	San Antonio, Texas	AT&T Center	1967*	1976

See also

• NBA league publications