The 2022-2023 NBA regular season will begin on Tuesday, October 18th, 2022. This year will be the upcoming NBA season, following the 2021-2022 season that came to a close in the summer of 2022.
After a grueling two years of Covid-19, the NBA has made painful decisions regarding who can travel, how many games there are, etc. This season the situation seems to be slowly heading back to normal.
- Which NBA Season Is It?
- How Are NBA Seasons Decided?
- When Is the Upcoming Preseason?
- Important Dates During the NBA Regular Season
- When Is the NBA Draft?
- How Do NBA Drafts Work?
- How Long Have NBA Seasons Been Going On?
- What Changes Have There Been Since the Last NBA Season?
- Who Are Fan Favorites Going Into the New NBA Season?
- In Conclusion
Which NBA Season Is It?
October 18th is the opening day of the regular season. For those unaware, regular seasons are the months in which NBA teams face each other before the championship. Playoffs and finals are the seasons that follow regular seasons.
Think of regular seasons as the backdrop to the main annual event. Regular seasons are long and determine who will be ordered going into NBA Playoffs. Most people will catch a regular-season game on public tv now and then.
This season will begin in 2022 and end next year in 2023.
How Are NBA Seasons Decided?
The NBA divides its calendar into multiple seasons. Off-seasons occur when the teams are not playing, plain and simple. Preseasons take place right before regular seasons, and it gives players time to practice.
Preseason tickets are notably popular because they give fans an insight into how their favorite (or least favorite) teams will be performing later on in the season. It gives them a peek into the team’s betting odds as well.
Following preseasons, teams will play in regular seasons. These regular seasons will conclude with the placement of teams into a bracket going into the NBA Playoffs. From here, teams will face each other until one wins the NBA Championship.
Who Will Compete First in the NBA Season?
It is not known who the first two teams to compete will be. The regular season will follow a series of preseason games and begin in Autumn.
How Long Are Regular Seasons?
The regular seasons usually last from October to some time in April. This regular season will last from October 18th to April 2023. It will last about six months before leading into the Playoff season.
Sometimes there are incongruencies in dating because of things like Covid or external influences. The most famous instance of this is the postponement of the 2019-2020 NBA season.
How Many Games Will the Upcoming NBA Season Be?
Every regular season intends to conclude with 82 games being played. After the 82nd game, teams are siphoned into their conferences for the upcoming NBA Playoff season. Teams take their attendance very seriously for each of these games, even if they precede the Finals.
The previous seasons have not always abided by this rule, however. The 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 NBA regular seasons were short of the 82 standard games. The first season ended after 67 games, and the 2019-2020 season ended only after 72.
It is bad practice to shorten the regular seasons because it negatively impacts ticket sales, merchandising, contracting, and the ability of the athletes to perform. Basketball players might feel like they are getting less practice than necessary.
Often, NBA players feel an obligation to attend these games as much as possible. It is simply inconvenient for their fans who paid to see them, not to mention their team who depends on them.
When Is the Upcoming Preseason?
Before the Regular Season begins on October 18th, the 2022-2023 NBA Preseason will begin on October 8th, 2022. The Los Angeles Clippers will face off against the Portland Trail Blazers in Washington state.
Following this exciting introduction to the new season, there will be two international games set in Japan. The Golden State Warriors and the Washington Wizards will be playing both games against each other. These games are going to take place on Friday, September 30th, and October 2nd.
Another pair of preseason games will take place in the Etihad Arena in the United Arab Emirates. These games will see the Atlanta Hawks and the Milwaukee Bucks go head-to-head. These matches will happen on October 6th and October 8th.
There is quite a lot happening in the new preseason, so fans can expect to see some early action. It is still a long time from now, but fans and followers are already presenting their odds for the upcoming teams.
NBA Training Camp Dates for 2022 to 2023
Training Camp usually ends around the end of September. Like the other parts of the NBA calendar, training occurs annually.
For the previous season, NBA Training Camp closed on September 28th, three weeks before the start of the regular season.
For the upcoming season, fans can expect their team to begin and end training by the 28th of September as well.
Important Dates During the NBA Regular Season
With the new season approaching, there are some key dates you should probably keep in mind. These include:
- June 23, 2022 – NBA draft
- July 1, 2022 – Free agency resumes in the company.
- October 18, 2022 – Opening Day
- February 19, 2023 – All-Star Games
As the months go on, professionals will announce more important dates. The date of the playoffs, the date of the finals, and the date of the next draft are not known with certainty at the moment.
When Is the NBA Draft?
The NBA Draft takes place every year. It ceremonially takes place in June after the previous season ends and the NBA Finals have ended. The NBA Draft for 2022 has already passed. It took place on June 23rd after the Golden State Warriors won the championship.
The next NBA Draft will coincide with the 2023 roster. It will also take place sometime in June depending on numerous factors. Like always, it will take place following the 2022-2023 NBA Finals and whatever happens leading up to the championship, though the official date is unknown.
How Do NBA Drafts Work?
The NBA Drafts are the process of assigning new players to the teams that want them. It’s how most stars are discovered and how most careers are made in the professional basketball industry.
The Drafts are separated into a lottery, a Combine, and the actual selection process. The lottery allows teams to get new rookies from the combine. The 2022 date for the Combine was May 16th, and the NBA Lottery was on June 23rd.
What Is the NBA Draft Lottery
The first part of the NBA Draft takes place on Draft Night. All NBA teams take turns writing their numbers on a ball and have it tumble through a machine. The machine spits the ball out like it would with a regular scratch-off lottery.
The results of the lottery determine a team’s power to choose their position in the upcoming draft position. The team with the fewest regular-season wins has the highest chance of securing the sought-after number 1 draft pick.
Teams with better draft picks can select recruits first. These recruits are vetted through a tenuous process known as the Draft Combine.
In a way, it is beneficial to be the losing team during the Drafts. The reason those teams get more power to pick their rookies is that the NBA knows their losing teams sometimes need a fresh start.
What Is an NBA Draft Combine?
The NBA Draft Combine is part of the NBA Draft where fresh talent introduces itself to the League. Rookie players will participate in a series of tests, measurements, and interviews to see if they are fit for the NBA.
For most rookies, the NBA Draft Combine is one of the most daunting days in their lives. It is the final test for years of athleticism and competition. College students have been practicing for years for this momentous occasion.
There are specific requirements that rookies must meet to enter the NBA. They must be at least 19 years old to start. They must also have a year between their participation in the Combine and their high-school graduation.
Are NBA Athletes Free Agents?
A free agent in professional basketball is an athlete unbound by a contract forbidding them from soliciting or joining other teams. A free agent would be free to leave the Clippers, for example, to join the Hoosiers.
Free agency began in 2022 on July 1st. Certain players are free to negotiate their contracts as they wish. Some players, however, are restricted free agents. A list of free agents in the NBA includes, but is not limited to the following athletes:
- Mitchell Robinson
- Bradley Beal
- Zach LaVine
- PJ Tucker
- Anfernee Simmons
- Jalen Brunson
- Chris Boucher
Restricted free agents have special conditions that limit when they can leave and join teams. This limitation is because of a contract between the individual athlete and the team.
How Long Have NBA Seasons Been Going On?
Competitive seasons have been going on since the National Basketball Association has been around. The Philadelphia Warriors would be the first victors of the NBA Finals, who triumphed over the Chicago Stags.
The organization started back in 1946, almost a full 80 years ago. This upcoming regular season will be the 77th ever in the organization’s history.
What Changes Have There Been Since the Last NBA Season?
Massive changes have rocked the sport recently. From trades to discharges, the NBA looks like it could experience continuing future complications.
Many teams have experienced mix-ups in coaching. Quin Snyder, coach of the Utah Jazz, retired after eight seasons this summer. He resigned after a long career of coaching and assistant coaching.
The Lakers fired their previous coach Frank Vogel for missing the previous season’s NBA Playoffs. This change in leadership follows a successful run in 2020 by the Lakers in which Vogel led the team to an NBA Championship victory. Darvin Ham is replacing the former coach.
2022 NBA Trades
Some of the biggest trades of this year included Michael Brogden going to the Celtics, Rudy Gobert joining Minnesota, and Royce O’Neale going to Utah.
Each of these players is somebody’s favorite at the moment. Rudy Gobert is especially promising, and not just because he stands at 7 foot 1. Gobert has a career-high of 35, and it is never too late for him to excel even beyond something that impressive.
Mitchell Robinson has signed another 4-year contract with the New York Knicks. The deal was considerably expensive, costing over $60,000,000.
How well they perform on their new team will determine their long-term viability as an athlete. If they perform well, they could be off to a significant advantage with a head start in the 2023 season.
Who Are Fan Favorites Going Into the New NBA Season?
The 2021-2022 NBA season has seen quite a few rookies burst into the spotlight. The Rookie of the Year Award for 2022 went to 20-year-old Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors. He is very talented and has been making waves since 2020 when he was considered the 4th best NBA recruit by ESPN.
It seems like there could be a chance for the Raptors to come out on top in the coming year. There have been rumors that the team could even pick up Kevin Durant if they wanted to, but this is not yet confirmed. Having Barnes and Durant in a scenario like this could make the Raptors very overpowered.
In Conclusion
The state of professional basketball is a little weird at the moment. With everything going on regarding scheduling and postponing games, some fans might be a little apprehensive going into the new season,
Other fans are already considering the odds of their favorite team winning the NBA Finals. Whether you think your pick will win or lose, stick around until October 18th, when the 2022-2023 77th NBA Seasons kicks off to a beautiful start!
