The2024–25 NBA season was the 79th season of theNational Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 22, 2024, and ended on April 13, 2025.[1] The NBA held an in-season tournament for the second consecutive year, now called the EmiratesNBA Cup.[2] The2025 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 16, 2025, atChase Center inSan Francisco.[3] The play-in tournament was played from April 15 to 18, 2025, followed by the playoffs the next day, and concluded with thefinals on June 22, 2025, when theOklahoma City Thunder defeated theIndiana Pacers inseven games.Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named the Finals MVP. This was the first game 7 in the finals since2016, and the 20th overall.
On July 2, 2024,Kemba Walker announced his retirement from professional basketball.[4] He joined theHornets as a player enhancement coach the next day.[4][5]
On August 15, 2024,Joe Harris retired from professional basketball.[8]
On September 26, 2024,Derrick Rose retired from professional basketball. He played for six different teams in his 16-year career, and was named theNBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2011 with theChicago Bulls.[9]
On September 29, 2024,AJ Griffin announced his retirement from professional basketball to pursue a career inministry.[10]
On October 10, 2024,Danny Green retired from professional basketball. Green played with six different teams in his 14-year career, and is one of the four players to win NBA championships with three different teams.[12]
On October 29, 2024,Rudy Gay announced his retirement from professional basketball.[13][14]
In addition to regular preseason games hosted at NBA teams' own arenas, the NBA often hosts neutral site preseason games (either in domestic non-NBA markets or foreign markets) or against non-NBA teams. Listed below are only those neutral site or preseason games.
The majority of the regular season was released on August 15, with those group play games counting as part of the in-season tournament, now branded as theNBA Cup, announced two days earlier on August 13. The two games that were dependent on the results of the in-season tournament, along with the knockout round schedule, were announced at the conclusion of group play (seedetails below).[45][1]
The Spurs played two alternate-site games at theMoody Center at theUniversity of Texas inAustin, Texas in February, when the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo took over Frost Bank Center.
TheNBA Cup, formerly the In-season tournament, returned for the 2024–25 season, with the same structure:[48][49][45]
All games except the championship final counting towards the regular-season standings.
Six intraconference pools of five (three pools per conference).
Tuesdays and Fridays Between November 12 and December 3 featured group games against each of the other teams in their pool (two at home and two on the road). These games still count as regular season games.
The winners of each pool (three teams per conference) and two wild-card teams (one team per conference) advanced to a single-elimination tournament.
The semifinals and championship game were again played in Las Vegas.
Players for the tournament champion each received $514,971.
To compensate, the NBA's regular season scheduling formula was modified so only 80 games for each team were initially announced during the offseason. The first two rounds of the in-season tournament counted as regular-season games 81 and 82. The championship game was an extra 83rd game that did not count toward the regular season. Teams that did not qualify for the in-season tournament knockout round, or were eliminated in the quarterfinals, were scheduled additional games against other teams that were eliminated in the same conference (if possible) and round to reach 82 games.
The top six seeds in each conference advanced to the main rounds of the2025 NBA playoffs, while the next four seeds participated in aPage playoff system tournament from April 15–18, 2025. In each conference: The 7th-place team hosted the 8th-place team in the double-chance round needing to win one game to advance, with the winner clinching the 7th seed in the playoffs. The 9th-place team hosted the 10th-place team in the elimination round requiring two wins to advance, with the loser being eliminated from the contention. The loser in the double-chance round hosted the elimination-round game-winner, with the winner clinching the 8th seed and the loser being eliminated.[55]
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the home of theCleveland Cavaliers, was renamedRocket Arena on February 18, 2025, as part of the company's rebranding.[100]
Footprint Center, the home of thePhoenix Suns, was temporarily renamedPHX Arena on February 18, 2025, after the Suns announced that they were seeking a new naming rights partner.[101]
TheBrooklyn Nets promoted their secondary logo to their primary and introduced a new secondary logo.[102]
TheLos Angeles Clippers unveiled a new logo and uniforms to coincide with their move toIntuit Dome. The team's new logo features a stylized clipper ship with basketball seams on its hull, surrounded by points of a compass and a navy blue "C" in a white circle. The new uniforms are modern versions of the script uniforms previously worn between 1987 and 2015. The white uniform features a "Clippers" modernized script wordmark in navy blue along with red numbers, the navy blue uniform features the "Clippers" script in red along with white numbers, and the alternative red uniform features a "Los Angeles" script wordmark in navy blue along with white numbers.[103]
TheMemphis Grizzlies unveiled a logo and classic uniforms to commemorate their 30th anniversary.[106]
TheUtah Jazz began a two-season long transition to a modernized version of their 1996–2004 uniforms, with new "City" and "Statement" uniforms debuting this season, and new "Association" and "Icon Edition" uniforms debuting next season.[107]
TheWashington Wizards have a new "Statement" uniform, with the phrase "The District of Columbia" on the front of the jersey.[108]
This was the last season of a nine-year deal with theESPN family of networks,TNT Sports, andNBA TV, before new 11-year deals with ESPN/ABC,NBC/Peacock andAmazon Prime Video begin in2025–26.TNT, in its final year of NBA coverage, has aired live NBA games since 1989.[109][110] The NBA rejected TNT Sports' matching rights offer for Amazon's package, claiming TNT was unable to fully match the terms of Amazon's all-streaming contract. TNT then filed a lawsuit against the league in a Manhattan New York state court, seeking to delay the new media deals from taking effect and to rule that TNT's offer matched Amazon's deal.[111] In November, the two parties agreed to a settlement, with TNT acquiring live game rights in selected international territories, and entering into a separate sublicensing agreement withThe Walt Disney Company (parent company of ESPN and ABC) to broadcast TNT'sInside the NBA studio on ESPN/ABC in 2025–26.[112][113]TNT Sports later announced in June 2025 that it would no longer operate NBA's digital properties, including NBA TV and the NBA.com website, effective October 1.[114]
ESPN primarily airs games on Wednesday and Friday nights, with a limited selection of games on other days as the schedule allows. On the final day of the regular season, Sunday, April 13, two games with playoff implications will be flexed into ESPN's afternoon doubleheader.[115]ABC airsNBA Saturday Primetime games on eight Saturdays between December and March (including a tripleheader on January 25), andNBA Sunday Showcase games on five Sunday afternoons (including three doubleheaders) in February and March.[115] Additionally, ESPN has exclusive coverage of NBA games onChristmas Day. Originally, of the five Christmas games scheduled, only the middle three games would be simulcast on ESPN and ABC, with the first and last contests only on ESPN.[115] However, in October 2024, it was announced that all five games would be ABC/ESPN simulcasts like in 2022.[116] During the NBA Cup, ESPN aired group stage matches as part of its Friday night coverage, along with one quarterfinal.[117] ABC aired one semifinal and the final of the NBA Cup in primetime.[118]ESPN2 aired an alternate broadcast of the first Christmas game featuring a live animated version of the game featuringMickey Mouse universe characters.[119] ESPN has the exclusive rights to theNBA All-Star Celebrity Game, which is part ofNBA All-Star Weekend. On February 5, ESPN announced that it had flexedLuka Dončić's expected LA Lakers debut on February 8 (the previous night's Utah vs Phoenix game was flexed out of national television due to this) ,[120] but after he did not play due to injury the network then flexed the Lakers' next game on February 10 (it was later announced that the Sacramento vs LA Clippers game on March 9 was flexed out due to this).[121][122]
TNT airs games on Tuesday nights during most of the regular season, and Thursday nights during opening week and after the NBA Cup.[123] Additionally, TNT aired two games onMartin Luther King Jr. Day and a Monday Doubleheader on March 31. TNT airs select simulcasts or alternative broadcasts of selected games onTruTV.[124] During the NBA Cup, TNT aired the group stage as part of its Tuesday night coverage, along with three quarterfinals and one semifinal.[117] TNT has exclusive coverage ofNBA All-Star Weekend, except for the Celebrity game.
NBA TV televises games when the other national broadcasters are not airing games. NBA TV aired a tripleheader of NBA Cup games on Friday, November 29 and one game on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.[125] All NBA games areblacked out in the local markets of the teams playing. Most games simulcast local coverage, but select games are produced by NBA TV as part of itsNBA Center Court package of games.
This was the second and final season that the streaming serviceMax have live access to TNT's games.[123]
ESPN+ began streaming ABC's games this season, including the network's two NBA Cup games,[118]NBA Saturday Primetime,[126] andNBA Sunday Showcase.[127] Both ESPN+ andDisney+ streamed the Mickey Mouse-themed alternate Christmas broadcast, the traditional broadcasts of all five Christmas games.,[119]Luka Dončić's LA Lakers debut on February 10, theNBA All-Star Celebrity Game and a Saturday Primetime game on March 8.[121][128][129]
NBA League Pass continues to offer out-of-market games, live access to NBA TV, and on-demand replays of every game.[125]
The Portland Trail Blazers andRoot Sports mutually agreed to end their television agreement prior to the season.[132] On September 23, 2024, the Trail Blazers announced that they had signed a multi-year agreement withSinclair Broadcast Group to be their new broadcaster. Under the deal,KATU andKUNP were named as the flagship stations, the group ofover-the-air stations carrying games across the team's broadcast territory was branded as theRip City Television Network, and games stream locally on a new direct-to-consumer streaming service namedBlazerVision.[133]
This is the first season that the Gotham Sports App, owned by a joint venture betweenMSG Networks andYES Network, became the exclusive streaming home of the Knicks and Nets. The app will not change the television rights for these teams.[135]
Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of theregional sports network chainFanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports), has been underChapter 11 bankruptcy protection since March 2023. As part of the bankruptcy, on August 23, 2024, Diamond Sports signed a long-term agreement with thirteen of the NBA teams that it holds rights to, committing to broadcast their games through at least the 2024–25 season, but with a 30 to 40 percent reduction in their rights fees. Despite being a long-term deal, if Diamond Sports is unable to get a bankruptcy plan approved by the court, the agreement will expire following the end of the season.[136][137]
ESPN analystJJ Redick left the network to became head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. He was initially replaced by a cast of rotating analysts joiningMike Breen andDoris Burke on the network's lead announce team.[154] On February 24, ESPN announced thatRichard Jefferson will remain with Breen and Burke for the rest of the season.[155]
ESPN analystHubie Brown announced his retirement at the end of the season. Brown has called games for ESPN since2004 and previously called games forUSA Network,CBS and TNT.[156] He called his last game on February 9, 2025, during the 76ers–Bucks game.[157]
The Boston Celtics promoted backup TV play-by-play announcer Drew Carter to full time this season following the retirement ofMike Gorman. Carter was hired by the team soon after Gorman announced his retirement prior to the start of2023–24; Gorman primarily called Celtics home games during his final season while Carter primarily called away games.[158]
The San Antonio Spurs hired Jacob Tobey to be their new TV play-by-play announcer this season following the retirement of Bill Land. Tobey previously held play-by-play roles withFox Sports and thePac-12 Network.[159]
The Philadelphia 76ers home game on March 3, as well as the Boston Celtics home game on March 5, was called byMike Tirico, in preparation for his new role as the lead play-by-play announcer onNBC next season. These games marked the first time Tirico called NBA games since the2015–16 season, while at ESPN.[160]
On June 27, 2024,Bronny James was selected 55th overall in the 2nd round of the2024 NBA draft by theLos Angeles Lakers. Being the son of current Lakers playerLeBron James, they marked the first father-son duo to play together in league history.[161]
They would officially make their regular season debut together on October 22, 2024, in a win against theMinnesota Timberwolves.[162]
On July 1, 2024,Jayson Tatum signed a five-year, $314 million contract extension with theBoston Celtics, the largest in league history.[163]
The NBA cut the average back-to-back regular season games per team by 23 percent to help curb "load management", when teams rest more than one healthy star player on any night. Teams no longer play four games in five nights, eight games in 12 nights, nor play on the day before or after "high-profile" nationally televised games.[164]
On October 22, 2024, the Boston Celtics tied the record for the most three-pointers made in a single game with 29 in a win over theNew York Knicks.[165]
On October 22, 2024, LeBron James passed Kobe Bryant for the most field goals missed in NBA history.[166]
On October 25, 2024, theGolden State Warriors became the first team in NBA history to open their season with two wins by at least 35 points.[167]
On October 25, 2024, LeBron James became the first to record atriple-double in his 22nd season.[168]
On October 26, 2024, LeBron James became the oldest player, aged 39 years, 301 days, to lead both teams in points, rebounds, and assists in a game.[169]
On October 28, 2024,Kevin Durant became the 8th player to score 29,000 points.[170]
On November 8, 2024, the Cleveland Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to win their first ten games while scoring at least 110 points in each game.[173]
On November 9, 2024, Victor Wembanyama became the first player in NBA history to have multiple games with at least 20 points, 5 three-pointers, 15 rebounds, and 5 blocks.[174]
On November 13, 2024, LeBron James became the oldest player, aged 39 years, 319 days, to record three consecutive triple-doubles.[175]
On November 13, 2024,Chris Paul became the third player to record 12,000 assists.[176]
On November 17, 2024,James Harden passedRay Allen for 2nd on the league's all-time three-pointers made list.[177]
On December 13, 2024, both thePhoenix Suns andUtah Jazz broke the record for the most three-pointers made in a non-overtime game, as well as tied the record for the most three-pointers made in single game with 44 made three-pointers between the two teams (22 made by both squads) in Phoenix's 134–126 win over Utah.[184]
On December 13, 2024, both the Charlotte Hornets andChicago Bulls broke the record for the most three-pointers missed in a game between two teams with 75 total missed three-pointers by both squads (38 missed attempted by the Hornets, 37 missed attempts by the Bulls) in Chicago's 109–95 win over Charlotte.[185][186] Coincidentally, the two teams would tie the record two weeks later on December 30, with Chicago missing 42 total three-point field goal attempts and Charlotte missing 33 three-point field goal shots this time around in the Bulls' 117–108 overtime win over the Hornets.[187]
On December 15, 2024, theDallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors broke the record for most three-pointers made by both teams in a game with 48 (27 by the Warriors and 21 by the Mavericks) in Dallas' 143–133 win over Golden State.[188]
On January 3, 2025, LeBron James passedMichael Jordan for the most 30-point games in NBA history, with his 563rd game.[191]
On January 8, 2025, theCleveland Cavaliers, entering with a 10-game winning streak, played the visitingOklahoma City Thunder, who had a longer streak of 15 games. This marked the first time a team with a 10-game winning streak and a team with a 15-game winning streak played each other.[192] The Cavaliers won the game 129–122, marking the Thunder's only loss to the Eastern Conference this season; the Thunder eventually finished 29–1 against Eastern Conference teams.[193]
On January 10, 2025, Nikola Jokić and Russell Westbrook became the first teammates to have triple-doubles in the same game multiple times in the same season.[194]
On February 1, 2025, LeBron James became the first player to have multiple triple-doubles at the age of 40.[195]
On February 3, 2025,Devin Booker surpassedWalter Davis to become the all-time leading scorer in Suns franchise history.[196]
On February 6, 2025, LeBron James became the oldest player, aged 40 years, 38 days, to score 40 points in a game with a 42-point performance against the Golden State Warriors.[197]
On February 11, 2025,Kevin Durant became the eighth player to score 30,000 points.[198]
On February 25, 2025,Luka Dončić recorded a triple-double in a win against his previous team, theDallas Mavericks, becoming the 4th player to have a triple-double in the first game against their old team and one of three (LeBron James and Russell Westbrook) players to have a triple-double against all 30 NBA teams.[199]
On March 3, 2025, LeBron James became the fourth player to record 1,000 regular season wins with a 108–102 victory over theLos Angeles Clippers.[200]
On March 4, 2025, LeBron James became the first player with 50,000 combined points in the regular season and playoffs.[201]
On March 5, 2025,Payton Pritchard andDerrick White became the first teammates to each make 9 or more three-pointers in the same game.[202]
On March 7, 2025, Nikola Jokić became the first player with at least 30 points, 20 rebounds, and 20 assists in a game.[203]
On March 8, 2025,Stephen Curry became the 26th player to score 25,000 points.[204]
On March 13, 2025, Stephen Curry became the first player to make 4,000 career three-pointers.[205]
On March 19, 2025,Sandro Mamukelashvili became the first player in NBA history to score 34 points while playing less than 20 minutes.[206]
On March 20, 2025,DeMar DeRozan became the 27th player to score 25,000 points.[207]
On March 23, 2025,Dyson Daniels became the youngest player with 200 or more steals in a season. He also became the first player since Chris Paul in 2008–09 to reach that mark.[208]
On March 28, 2025, theDetroit Pistons secured their first winning season since 2016.[209] They also became the second team in NBA history to triple their win total from the previous season, joining the2012–13 Charlotte Bobcats, and the first to do so from the previous full season.[210]
On March 31, 2025, in a game against the Charlotte Hornets, theUtah Jazz, who previously hadn't lost 60 or more games in franchise history, suffered their 60th loss of the season, making them the last remaining team in league history to lose at least 60 games in a season.
On March 31, 2025, a brawl broke out between theDetroit Pistons andMinnesota Timberwolves, with five players and two coaches ejected. The five players were issued suspensions.[211]
On April 1, 2025, Nikola Jokić put up a triple-double of 61 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists, the highest-scoring triple-double in NBA history.[212]
On April 2, 2025, theOklahoma City Thunder defeated theDetroit Pistons 119–103 for their 29th win against the Eastern Conference this season. With the win, they are 29–1 against teams from the Eastern Conference, the best in league history.[193]
On April 13, 2025,Chris Paul became the first player to start all 82 games for his team in his 20th season or later.[217]
TheOklahoma City Thunder set the record for highest scoring differential in a season, with +12.9. The previous record of +12.3 was set by the 1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers.[218]
Jarrett Allen became the first player to shoot 70% from the field and 70% from the free throw line in a season.[219]
