The 2026-27 National Basketball Association (NBA) season starts Tuesday, 20 Octoberwith the Boston Celtics heading to the Detroit Pistons.
The regular season, as well as the in-season NBA Cup, takes place between October and April.
After that, the play-offs take place to determine the NBA champions, who are crowned in June.
What is the format?
All 30 teams are evenly split into two conferences of 15 - creating the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference.
Each team plays 82 regular season matches between October and April, with the top six teams from each conference qualifying directly into the NBA play-offs.
The teams between seventh and 10th enter the play-in tournament, where two more play-offs spots from each conference are up for grabs.
There are also three divisions in each conference, with teams playing every other team in their division four times in the regular season.
Teams will then play six of the other sides in their conference four times, while taking on the remaining four franchises three times. They will then face all 15 teams in their opposing conference twice.
While the regular season sees teams play against opposition in both the Eastern and Western Conferences, the play-offs are conference-specific. All rounds of the play-offs are played in a best of seven-match series.
The winner of the Eastern Conference will face the winner of the Western Conference in the NBA finals in June, with the winner being crowned NBA champions.
List of NBA teams
Eastern Conference:
Atlantic Division
- Brooklyn Nets
- Boston Celtics
- New York Knicks
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Toronto Raptors
Central Division
- Chicago Bulls
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Detroit Pistons
- Indiana Pacers
- Milwaukee Bucks
Southeast Division
- Atlanta Hawks
- Charlotte Hornets
- Miami Heat
- Orlando Magic
- Washington Wizards
Western Conference:
Northwest Division
- Denver Nuggets
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Utah Jazz
Pacific Division
- Golden State Warriors
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Phoenix Suns
- Sacramento Kings
Southwest Division
- Dallas Mavericks
- Houston Rockets
- Memphis Grizzlies
- New Orleans Pelicans
- San Antonio Spurs
What is the NBA Cup and when does it start?
The NBA Cup is an in-season competition where teams compete for a trophy, but some results also count towards the overall season standings.
The event starts on Friday, October 30, with the final taking place on Friday, December 11.
Teams face four teams from their conference and the group winners, as well as the best runner-up from each conference, advance into the quarter-finals.
Like the play-offs, teams only play against opposition in the same conference in the quarter-final and semi-final. Matches are also one-off knockouts, rather than a series.
The winners of each conference will meet in the championship game to determine the NBA Cup winner.
The Knicks are the defending NBA Cup champions, while the first edition in 2023 was won by the Lakers.
Which British players are in the NBA?
Three British players will start the 2026-27 season on active NBA rosters.
Forward OG Anunoby is part of the Knicks side that won the NBA Championship and NBA Cup last season.
Power forward Tobi Lawal was picked up in this year's draft by the Dallas Mavericks, while centre Amari Williams was signed in the 2025 draft by the Boston Celtics.
In the cases of Lawal and Williams, both have been listed on two-way contracts, meaning they will rotate between their respective teams' NBA sides and G League franchises.
Jeremy Sochan, who plays internationally for Poland, is officially recognised by the NBA as a British player having spent part of his upbringing in England. Sochan was part of the Knicks' side at the end of last season and despite joining the Portland Trail Blazers in the summer, he was released earlier this week and will start the season as a free agent.
Tosan Evbuomwan, who spent the last three seasons in the NBA and featured for the Memphis Grizzlies, Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks, now plays for Spanish side Barcelona.
When are the NBA international games?
For the second year running, the United Kingdom will host a regular season NBA match.
It will be the first time Manchester has hosted a game, as part of a European double header.
In January 2027, the New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs will face each other at Manchester's Co-op Live, three days after facing each other in Paris.
The Denver Nuggets will also face the Indiana Pacers in Mexico City in November.
NBA's 2026-27 international games:
- November 7, 2026: Denver Nuggets v Indiana Pacers – Mexico City Arena, Mexico City, Mexico
- January 14, 2027: New Orleans Pelicans v San Antonio Spurs – Accor Arena, Paris, France
- January 17, 2027: San Antonio Spurs v New Orleans Pelicans – Co-op Live, Manchester Great Britain
Who has won the NBA in recent years?
All eight NBA campaigns since the 2018-19 season have been won by different teams.
Prior to that, the Golden State Warriors were the most successful franchise in recent years, winning four NBA titles since the 2014-15 term.
The Boston Celtics, who were 2023-24 champions, are the most successful franchise in NBA history, with 18 title wins.
Last seven NBA-winning sides:
- 2025-26: New York Knicks
- 2024-25: Oklahoma City Thunder
- 2023-24: Boston Celtics
- 2022-23: Denver Nuggets
- 2021-22: Golden State Warriors
- 2020-21: Milwaukee Bucks
- 2019-20: Los Angeles Lakers
- 2018-19: Toronto Raptors
This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.
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