The National Basketball Association is set to begin its 78th season on Oct. 24, 2023. Each of the 30 teams will play 82 games as part of the 2023-24 NBA schedule including at least four in the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament. The 2023 NBA Play-In Tournament will start on April 16 and Game 1 of the NBA Finals is slated for June 6.
Kia NBA Tip-Off 2023
The 2023-24 NBA season will begin with five straight days of doubleheaders from Oct. 24 to Oct. 28. The defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets will receive their rings before hosting the Los Angeles Lakers in the first game of the season. It will be a rematch of last season’s Western Conference Finals.
Holiday Hoops
Holiday hoops are always a staple and the NBA schedule 23-24 is full of them. There will be five games on Christmas Day starting with the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks at 12 p.m. ET. The other games will include the Nuggets, the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers, the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Miami Heat, the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, there will be four games with Atlanta and Memphis continuing their tradition of hosting. The Atlanta Hawks will face the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies will meet the Warriors. The Houston Rockets, 76ers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Lakers will play in the day’s other two games.
NBA In-Season Tournament
Throughout the season, all 30 teams will compete in the NBA In-Season Tournament. Group Play games are scheduled for Tuesdays and Fridays in November and eight teams will advance to the Knockout Rounds with the winner from each group and one wild card from each conference. The Quarterfinals are set for Dec. 4 and 5 with the Semifinals slated for Dec. 7 and Championship on Dec. 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
All games except the Championship will count toward a team’s regular season record and players who reach the Knockout Rounds will receive money from the prize pool. There will also be an All-Tournament Team and Most Valuable Player tabbed at the conclusion of the tournament. Teams that are eliminated in Group Play will have two games added back into their schedule to make up for the difference.
| West Group A | West Group B | West Group C | East Group A | East Group B | East Group C |
| Memphis | Denver | Sacramento | Philadelphia | Milwaukee | Boston |
| Phoenix | LA Clippers | Golden State | Cleveland | New York | Brooklyn |
| L.A. Lakers | New Orleans | Minnesota | Atlanta | Miami | Toronto |
| Utah | Dallas | Oklahoma City | Indiana | Washington | Chicago |
| Portland | Houston | San Antonio | Detroit | Charlotte | Orlando |
Other Notable Dates
There will be two Global Games during the 2023-24 NBA schedule with the Hawks and Orlando Magic scheduled to play in The NBA Mexico City Game 2023, and the Brooklyn Nets facing the Cleveland Cavaliers in The NBA Paris Game 2024.
The 2024 NBA All-Star Game is scheduled for Feb. 18 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind.
How do the NBA Playoffs work?
After the conclusion of the regular season, the top 16 teams in the league will compete in the NBA Playoffs. The top six teams in the East Conference and West Conference are automatically qualified, while the final two spots are determined by the NBA Play-In Tournament. This four-team playoff pits the seventh and eighth-place teams against each other for the seventh spot and the ninth and 10th-place teams for the final playoff bid. The automatic qualifiers are ranked by win-loss record.
All rounds feature a best-of-seven format with a 2-2-1-1-1 structure meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games 1, 2, 5 and 7.
2023-24 NBA Tickets
Can the Nuggets repeat? Will LeBron James win his elusive fifth NBA title? Will Victor Wembanyama live up to the hype in his rookie season in Dallas? You’ll have to watch and see. Catch your favorite team at home or on the road with NBA game tickets from TicketSmarter.
