Looking for all 30 NBA teams in alphabetical order? Whether you're making a bracket, building a sports database, studying up for trivia, or just trying to settle a debate about which teams are in the Western Conference, the sorted list below covers every franchise. The tool above will also alphabetize any custom list you paste in - useful for fantasy basketball drafts or ranking your all-time favorites.
The National Basketball Association has 30 teams split evenly between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, each with three five-team divisions. That 30-team structure has been in place since 2004, when the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets) joined as the most recent expansion team. But the league's roots go back to 1946, when the Basketball Association of America launched with 11 franchises - most of which folded before the BAA merged with the National Basketball League in 1949 to form what we now know as the NBA.
Eastern vs. Western Conference
The Eastern and Western Conferences each have 15 teams. Geography mostly determines which conference a team belongs to, though there are some quirks. The Toronto Raptors are in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference despite being further north than any other franchise. The Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans are both in the Western Conference's Southwest Division, even though they're east of the Mississippi River. Conference alignment in the NBA has always been more about competitive balance and travel logistics than strict geography.
Each conference has three divisions: Atlantic, Central, and Southeast in the East; Northwest, Pacific, and Southwest in the West. Division play matters less in basketball than in football or baseball - NBA teams play each division rival four times a year, but that's only slightly more than the three or four games they play against non-division opponents. Still, division titles earn tiebreaker advantages in the playoff seedings, and local rivalries like Celtics-Knicks, Lakers-Clippers, and Bulls-Pacers carry real weight with fans.
Original Franchises and Oldest Teams
Only three of the original BAA franchises from 1946 still exist and have played continuously: the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and Golden State Warriors (originally the Philadelphia Warriors). The Celtics are the most decorated franchise in NBA history with 18 championships, including eight straight from 1959 to 1966 under Red Auerbach and Bill Russell. That kind of dynasty is almost impossible to imagine happening again in modern sports.
The Sacramento Kings hold the distinction of being the oldest NBA franchise by founding date, tracing their lineage to the Rochester Seagrams in 1923 - though they went through the Rochester Royals, Cincinnati Royals, Kansas City-Omaha Kings, and Kansas City Kings before landing in Sacramento in 1985. The Detroit Pistons started as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in 1941. The Atlanta Hawks began as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in 1946 before stops in Milwaukee and St. Louis.
The Philadelphia 76ers have one of the richest histories in the sport. Originally the Syracuse Nationals (founded 1946), they relocated to Philadelphia in 1963 and renamed themselves after the year of American independence. Wilt Chamberlain's 1966-67 Sixers team - which went 68-13 - is still considered one of the greatest squads ever assembled.
Arenas and Cities
Madison Square Garden in New York is the most famous basketball arena on the planet. It opened in its current form in 1968 and sits on top of Penn Station in midtown Manhattan. MSG doesn't have the biggest capacity or the newest amenities, but its location and history give it an aura that no other arena can match. Players regularly say that performing at the Garden brings something extra out of them.
The newest arena in the league is the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, which opened in 2024 as the Clippers' first-ever purpose-built home. The franchise spent decades sharing arenas with the Lakers - first the Forum, then Staples Center (now Crypto.com Arena). Steve Ballmer's $2 billion investment finally gave the Clippers their own identity. On the other end, the 76ers are building 76 Place in downtown Philadelphia, set to open soon and end their long stay at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia.
Like other pro sports, not every NBA team plays exactly where its name suggests. The Golden State Warriors haven't been in Oakland since 2019 - Chase Center is in San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood. The Clippers play in Inglewood, not Los Angeles proper. And the Pistons returned to downtown Detroit from the suburbs in 2017 when Little Caesars Arena opened, ending a 30-year stretch in Auburn Hills.
Teams by Division
The Atlantic Division (Celtics, Knicks, Nets, 76ers, Raptors) is the NBA's version of a historical heavyweight division. Boston and New York are two of the three surviving original franchises, and Philly has been a basketball city since Wilt Chamberlain was dropping 100-point games. The division has produced some of the league's greatest rivalries and most passionate fanbases.
The Pacific Division (Clippers, Lakers, Kings, Suns, Warriors) has been the league's glamour division for years, powered by the Warriors' dynasty run from 2015 to 2022 and the Lakers' perennial relevance. The Central Division (Bucks, Bulls, Cavaliers, Pacers, Pistons) produced the greatest player of all time in Michael Jordan's Bulls, plus the "Bad Boy" Pistons who terrorized the late-1980s league.
The Southwest Division (Grizzlies, Mavericks, Pelicans, Rockets, Spurs) was dominated by the Spurs for two decades under Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan, with five championships between 1999 and 2014. The Northwest Division (Jazz, Nuggets, Thunder, Timberwolves, Trail Blazers) and Southeast Division (Hawks, Heat, Hornets, Magic, Wizards) round out the conference structures.
Name Changes and Relocations
The NBA has seen more franchise movement than any other major American sports league. The Oklahoma City Thunder were the Seattle SuperSonics until 2008, when the team relocated after a bitter ownership dispute - Seattle fans still haven't gotten over it, and expansion talk surfaces every few years. The Memphis Grizzlies started in Vancouver in 1995 and moved south in 2001 after struggling with attendance and the Canadian dollar exchange rate.
The Brooklyn Nets have one of the most traveled histories in pro sports. They started as the New Jersey Americans in 1967, became the New York Nets, moved back to New Jersey (twice), and finally landed in Brooklyn in 2012 when the Barclays Center opened. The Washington Wizards have been the Chicago Packers, Chicago Zephyrs, Baltimore Bullets, Capital Bullets, and Washington Bullets before settling on Wizards in 1997 to distance themselves from the gun violence connotations of "Bullets."
The Charlotte Hornets franchise has its own complicated timeline. The original Hornets left for New Orleans in 2002, eventually becoming the Pelicans. Charlotte got an expansion team in 2004 called the Bobcats, then reclaimed the Hornets name in 2014 after New Orleans rebranded. So technically, the current Hornets franchise dates to 2004, but the name and history belong to Charlotte.
Complete List of All 30 NBA Teams Alphabetically
Here is every NBA team listed from A to Z: