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2025-26 NBA Preview
The 2025-26 NBA season gets underway on the 21st of October, the regular season will conclude in April 2026, and the NBA Finals will take place in June 2026.
This will be the 80th season of the NBA in which the Oklahoma City Thunder will head into as reigning champions, having won just the second championship in 2025 after a 46-year wait.
The NBA Cup continues in the new season for what will be its third season. The NBA All-Star game will take place on the 15th of February 2026 in Inglewood, California, at the Intuit Dome.
Do you need some advice on who to back in the NBA? If so, why not check out who OLBG's expert basketball tipsters are tipping? Check out the current basketball tips on OLBG.
Best Bookmakers for Basketball Betting
NBA Coaching Changes
Here are the coaching changes from the 2024-25 to the 2025-26 season.
- Denver Nuggets: David Adelman promoted from interim
- Memphis Grizzlies: Tuomas Iisalo promoted from interim
- New York Knicks: Tom Thibodeau has left
- Phoenix Suns: Jordan Ott replaces Mike Budenholzer
- Sacramento Kings: Doug Christie promoted from interim
- San Antonio Spurs: Mitch Johnson replaces Gregg Popovich
The Ultimate Guide on How to Bet on Basketball - Tips, Strategies and More
NBA International Games in 2025-26
Preseason Games
The NBA Global Games & NBLxNBA games, which are played in pre-season, will feature a total of six games.
- October 2nd - 76ers 84-99 Knicks(NBA Global Games)
- Etihad Arena (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
- October 3rd - Melbourne Utd 97-107 Pelicans(NBLxNBA)
- Rod Laver Arena (Melbourne, Australia)
- October 4th - Knicks 113-104 76ers (NBA Global Games)
- Etihad Arena (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
- October 4th - Magic 126-118 Heat (NBA Global Games)
- Etihad Arena (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
- October 5th - SE Melbourne 92-127 Pelicans (NBLxNBA)
- Rod Laver Arena (Melbourne, Australia)
- October 10th - Suns 132-127 Nets (NBA Global Games)
- Venetian Arena (Macau, China)
- October 12th - Nets 111-109 Suns (NBA Global Games)
- Venetian Arena (Macau, China)
Regular Season Games
For the Internation Games this season which will count as regular season matches, there will be three of them.
- November 1st - Pistons vs Mavericks (NBA Global Games)
- Mexico City Arena, Mexico City (Mexico)
- January 15th - Grizzlies vs Magic (NBA Global Games)
- Uber Arena, Berlin (Germany)
- January 18th - Magic vs Grizzlies (NBA Global Games)
- The O2 Arena, London (UK)
How often do Favourites win in the NBA?
As you can see below in the table, which highlights the favourites' winning percentages when playing either at home or away during the regular season, only do not differ a great deal when the side is on the road, which is very interesting.
If you look at the 2023-24 season record, more favourites won on the road than they did at home, which was also the case during the 2021-22 season, meaning two of the last four seasons have seen more winning favourites on the road than at home.
| Season | Home (W-L) | Road (W-L) | Overall (W-L) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 418-198 (67.86%) | 295-168 (63.71%) | 713-366 (66.08%) |
| 2021-22 | 521-246 (67.93%) | 315-146 (68.33%) | 836-392 (68.08%) |
| 2022-23 | 543-245 (68.91%) | 269-171 (61.14%) | 812-416 (66.12%) |
| 2023-24 | 524-232 (69.31%) | 327-139 (70.17%) | 851-371 (69.64%) |
| 2024-25 | 504-209 (70.69%) | 346-159 (68.51%) | 850-368 (69.79%) |
| Totals | 2510-1130 (68.96%) | 1552-783 (66.47%) | 4062-1913 (67.98%) |
How many Points are scored in the NBA?
Below is a table highlighting the regular season games over the last five seasons and how many points both the hosts and visitors averaged during those seasons, as well as the game average.
As you can see, the totals do not differ a great deal; however, the past three seasons have seen higher averages for both the hosts and visiting teams compared to the previous two seasons.
| Season | Total Games | Home Ave | Road Ave | Game Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 1080 | 112.6 | 111.6 | 224.2 |
| 2021-22 | 1230 | 111.5 | 109.8 | 221.2 |
| 2022-23 | 1230 | 115.9 | 113.4 | 229.4 |
| 2023-24 | 1224 | 115.2 | 113.1 | 228.4 |
| 2024-25 | 1224 | 114.7 | 113.1 | 227.7 |
| Totals | 5988 | 114.0 | 112.2 | 226.2 |
NBA Finals - Past Champions
The NBA's history stretches back to 1947 when the now-defunct Chicago Stags defeated the Philadelphia Warriors for what would become the NBA Championship.
Only two franchises have won double-digit championships, the Lakers with seventeen wins and the Celtics, who won in 2024, ending a sixteen-year wait for a championship and moved them on to eighteen championships.
The Last 10 NBA Champions:
| Year | Western Champions | Result / MVP | Eastern Champions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Oklahoma City Thunder Mark Daigneault | 4 - 3 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Indiana Pacers (Rick Carlisle) |
| 2024 | Dallas Mavericks Jason Kidd | 1 - 4 Jaylen Brown | Boston Celtics (Joe Mazzula) |
| 2023 | Denver Nuggets Michael Malone | 4 - 1 Nikola Jokić | Miami Heat Erik Spoelstra |
| 2022 | Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr | 4 - 2 Stephen Curry | Boston Celtics Ime Udoka |
| 2021 | Phoenix Suns Monty Williams | 2 - 4 Giannis Antetokounmpo | Milwaukee Bucks Mike Budenholzer |
| 2020 | Los Angeles Lakers Frank Vogel | 4 - 2 LeBron James | Miami Heat Erik Spoelstra |
| 2019 | Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr | 2 - 4 Kawhi Leonard | Toronto Raptors Nick Nurse |
| 2018 | Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr | 4 - 0 Kevin Durant | Cleveland Cavaliers Tyronn Lue |
| 2017 | Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr | 4 - 1 Kevin Durant | Cleveland Cavaliers Tyronn Lue |
| 2016 | Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr | 3 - 4 LeBron James | Cleveland Cavaliers Tyronn Lue |
If you need more info for your basketball bets, why not check out the Best Basketball Tipsters page to see which of the top OLBG tipsters currently have tips on this sport. The highlighted tipsters have shown a recent profit for their basketball tips.
Most Successful Franchise
Which team has won the most NBA Championships? The Boston Celtics have won the most and are one of only two franchises that are in double figures for championships, and twelve that have won multiple championships.
- 18 - Boston Celtics (.783)
- 17 - LA Lakers (.531)
- 7 - Golden State Warriors (.583)
- 6 - Chicago Bulls (1.000)
- 5 - San Antonio Spurs (.833)
- 3 - Philadelphia 76ers (.333)
- 3 - Detroit Pistons (.429)
- 3 - Miami Heat (.429)
- 2 - New York Knicks (.250)
- 2 - Oklahoma City Thunder (.400)
- 2 - Houston Rockets (.500)
- 2 - Milwaukee Bucks (.667)
New to betting on basketball? Why not head over to our betting school, where you can find a great article on Basketball Betting Advice?
Author Information
Andy Powell manages this NBA Preview, Statistics and Betting Guide and other basketball content in this section of the site, as well as the Basketball Tipsters in the OLBG tipster competition in his role in the OLBG Expert Team. Andy meticulously updates the data and results for these pieces. You can get Basketball betting advice in our bookmaker reviews as well as in our Best Basketball Betting Sites Guide.
**Statistics included in this blog include regular season matches only from the start of the 2020-21 season to the conclusion of the 2024-25 season. The home and away teams are decided by the matchup.
Andy Powell
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