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The NBA is more than just a sporting event: it is a true cultural phenomenon, a must-watch piece of entertainment for basketball fans, no matter where they are in the world.
North American basketball is leaps and bounds above the competition, and it’s no wonder that the 2024-25 season, which is the 79th of its kind, promises to be an incredible piece of action – for fans and NBA betting enthusiasts alike.
Here is everything you need to know about the 2024-2025 NBA season, from the schedule and the storylines to online sports betting options and where you can watch the games depending on where you are in the world.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, the NBA, or the National Basketball Association, is North America’s premiere professional basketball league and arguably the greatest basketball competition in the world. With 30 teams divided into an Eastern and a Western Conference, further divided into Atlantic, Central, and Southeast; and Northwest, Pacific, and Southwest groups, respectively, it is an all-encompassing American affair, with 29 USA teams joined by the sole Canadian representative in the form of the Toronto Raptors, who play in the Eastern Conference.
The regular season in the NBA runs from October to April, with each team playing 82 games in total in a bid to qualify for the playoffs later in the month. This is made up based on the following criteria:
The top six teams from each conference automatically qualify for the playoffs, seeded based on their position in the standings, while the teams that finish from seventh to tenth participate in a Play-In Tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds.
In the playoffs, teams of the same conference play each other in grueling best-of-seven matches (meaning first to four wins), and once only the strongest squad is left standing on each side of the continent, they are set loose against one another in the NBA Finals.
But for fans and players, the action truly begins with the draft, which takes place straight after the end of the playoffs. This is where prospective talent gets to find out whether they were selected by any of the teams in the league or if they will have to bide their time as a free agent for opportunities later in the season. With both past performance and random chance taken into account, teams are sequentially choosing draftees, two per team in total, to bolster their squads for the upcoming season.
For a competition with such a storied history, it is difficult to highlight just a handful of teams and players who outshone the rest across all these years. For what it’s worth, three of the teams have survived through all the trials and tribulations since the NBA’s official creation all the way back in 1949 (even as the handful of BAA seasons from the years prior are also often counted in the record books): they are the Boston Celtics, the New York Knicks, and the Golden State Warriors (who were known as The Philadelphia Warriors once upon a time), so in terms of history, they simply cannot be matched.
Still, three of the most influential and important NBA players of all time, and the impact of their play – and the teams they made their dynasties on – should never be underestimated:
MJ’s NBA website profile reads, “By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.” Enough said. The US Dream Team’s pillar and the face of the Chicago Bulls’ dynastic team in the nineties, Jordan has revolutionized the shooting guard role – and the way sports players intertwine marketing with their on-court exploits. Even as a casual fan, the Last Dance documentary of their final title win is well worth checking out, if only to marvel at the source of the “and I took that personally” meme.
The Black Mamba was a fierce competitor, and he is still the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Los Angeles Lakers. Piling on record after record, he is seen as one of the most influential players in NBA history, with five NBA championship titles to his name and two Olympic gold medals. The first guard to play 20 seasons in the NBA and the only player in the competition’s history to see multiple numbers retired by a franchise after his retirement, his contribution to the game of basketball has been immense – and his untimely passing in a 2020 helicopter accident all the more tragic.
Of the players whose name is instantly recognizable even to non-basketball fans, LeBron James is still going strong, heading into the 2024-25 NBA season at the tender age of 39. Four NBA championship titles and a whopping three Olympic gold medals are tough to argue with – and the comparisons with Jordan don’t stop there, either, seeing how he’s also supercharged the endorsement side of things with a whopping $1 billion in earnings as an active player. His incredible longevity is further underlined by stats like the fact that he is the all-time leading scorer of the NBA since 2023, a record 20-time NBA All-Star designation, and that his son has been drafted alongside him for the Lakers in 2024, making them the first father-son duo in the association’s history.
In terms of historical accomplishments, the Boston Celtics’ 2024 title victory means that they are now all alone atop the NBA summit with 18 titles, ending a 16-season drought last year. Their first title goes all the way back to 1957! Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers are hot on their heels with 17 NBA title victories, with the Golden State Warriors in third on the all-time standings list with seven victories, courtesy of their recent dynastic accomplishments in the mid-2010s. The Chicago Bulls are on six titles, courtesy of Michael Jordan’s vintage, and the San Antonio Spurs are in fifth with five. No other franchise has more than three title wins to their name.
All caught up with the basics, then? Great – here is a quick rundown of what the 2024-25 NBA season is going to look like.
The 79th NBA regular season will begin on October 22, 2024, and it will run all the way until April 13, 2025. The playoffs will begin on April 2019, six days after the regular season has concluded – and the first game of the NBA finals is scheduled for June 5. The three matches of the regular season that are set to be played on foreign soil as part of the NBA Global Games are the Miami Heat versus the Washington Wizards in Mexico City on November 2, and two games in Paris: the match between Indiana and San Antonio on January 23 and the clash of the Pacers and Spurs on January 25.
The complete game schedule for the season was revealed on August 20.
As is tradition, the NBA will feature games on Christmas Day and MLK Jr. Day (January 20), with the third annual NBA Rivals Week scheduled to take place between January 21 and 25. No games are scheduled, however, for Election Day (November 5).
The second edition of the NBA Cup, a new in-season competition, will tip off on November 12, with the group stage set to conclude on December 3. The knockout stage matches are scheduled for December 10, 11, 14, and 17 for the eight teams that made it past the initial bracket.
If you are a newcomer to the world of professional basketball – or even someone who simply stopped following the sport for a few years – you might be surprised by the inclusion of something called the “NBA Cup” in the official NBA season schedule. To put it simply, the NBA Cup is a new in-season competition to provide even more meaning and even higher stakes for regular season matches in an interesting little mini-tournament with a group stage and a knockout bracket. Here’s how it works.
All 30 teams of the Eastern and the Western Conference participate in this extra competition, and they are seeded into five pots based on last year’s regular season standings. Each conference will have three groups of five teams in this new competition, and their regular season matches between November 12 and December 3 are counted as part of this tournament, with two to be played at home and two away. The group winners will directly qualify for the eight-team single-elimination knockout stage, where they will be joined by two wildcard teams in the form of each conference’s runner-up team with the best record based on various tiebreakers.
Both the group stage and the knockout stage matches count as regular season matches, with the exception of the grand final, which is treated as an entirely separate affair. To maintain parity on the calendar, the teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs and will play two additional regular season games while the knockout stage plays out.
The 2024-25 NBA season will mark the second time that the NBA Cup will be held, and its inaugural edition was won by the Los Angeles Lakers, back when it was still known as the NBA In-Season Tournament in the 2023-2024 season.
The groups for the 2024-25 NBA Cup are as follows:
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group A
Group B
Group C
Here are some of the biggest NBA storylines for the 2024-25 season, courtesy of NBA.com and various community sites:
Capping off a successful Olympic summer with a silver medal for France, Victor Wembanyama is back to make even more history in the NBA season. With a 21.4 point and 10.6 rebound average per game last season and a shoe-in for an All-Star nod, the Frenchman will now be able to rely on Chris Paul to further develop his game – if he can avoid a sophomore slump, that is.
As cool as it is as a storyline, the Lakers’ drafting of Bronny James was not without controversy, as the son of LeBron, who came in as the 55th pick of the June draft, likely wouldn’t have been picked up without this diamond-worthy last name. Realistically, we won’t see the father-and-son duo on the court all that often, as the rookie will likely spend more time in the G League or on the bench than alongside his dad, but for those moments that he will, it’s going to be unforgettable memories for the family and basketball fans alike.
The Denver Nuggets were one of the feel-good stories of the 2023-2024 NBA season, with Nikola Jokic being a standout player of the season – whenever he was fit to play, that is. The 2023 title win now feels like a far cry from an era long ago, with Brown and Caldwell-Pope both gone. Can the youngsters they’ve picked up since now play a part in a new title challenge? Only time will tell.
All this exciting action and the intrigue of who is going to win the NBA season makes it a no-brainer to get involved with the betting side of things if you’re looking for some added spice to your basketball viewing action – and this is where Bitsler comes in.
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And if you are new to the world of NBA betting, have no fear – we’ve got a handful of top tips to help you get started on your journey.
From free throw percentages to steals per game stats, there are many unique and opaque metrics in basketball that you can use to measure the performance and the abilities of a team and a squad in any given match or season. The first step to placing successful bets is to go beyond the punditry and do a deep dive into the statistical side of things, which can help you figure out elements of the NBA that regular viewers won’t take properly into consideration. Get a good understanding of the numbers behind the game, and you will start to spot the profitable betting options – it is that simple.
Really, this is good advice when it comes to all walks of life, but it is also a very important lesson in the world of crypto sports betting: be careful with gurus and know-it-alls. Many people ply their trade online, selling their supposedly sure-fire picks to enterprising bettors, but let’s be real: if the tips were so good, they wouldn’t be selling them to you.
You might have heard of Haralabos ‘Bob’ Vulgaris, a professional gambler who made his fortune betting everything he had on the Los Angeles Lakers’ title win in 1999 – the year of Phil Jackson, Shaquille O’Neil, and then-21-year-old Kobe Brant – but you only heard of his exploits long after he has cashed out. If it’s good research, you can bet your bottom dollar the researcher will keep it to themselves. So, back to square one: you need to do your own research!
It might seem tantalizing to make a big call on one of the titanic clashes of the season – and it is certainly a heck of a lot of fun to do so – but there is simply so much money moving around on the markets when it comes to NBA betting on those games that it is very difficult to find yourself an edge over the house and the field. You are better off wandering in the weeds, exploring and researching lesser-known matchups and teams and players that might be more under the radar when it comes to fellow bettors (and maybe even the bookies!) – that is where you can truly utilize your knowledge and expertise to find a +EV bet or two for yourself.
(But again, just to reiterate, having a little something riding on the line of the big game of the season can be super fun.)
Depending on where you are located in the world, you will likely have very different options when it comes to following the NBA season or watching NBA games online and on your television. While we have no means of covering every possible option available across hundreds of countries, here is a set of sure-fire starting points to keep you covered if you would like to watch and follow the NBA matches from the comfort of your home.
For those in the United States, cable TV is a straightforward option, but if you want to go beyond and have greater flexibility, the NBA TV and NBA League Pass allow you to watch games live and on-demand. YouTube TV’s dedicated NBA subscription also offers a large selection of NBA matches to follow. DirectTV Stream also offers access to most NBA matches, and often, it is the only place where you can find the games that are only covered by Bally Sports.You can also use Bitsler’s NBA betting platform to stay up to date on the latest odds and all upcoming matches, with discussion and commentary available on all things gambling via the Bitsler blog. It’s a slam dunk!
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