An NBA game lasts for 48 minutes divided into 4 quarters. But of course that doesn't tell us a lot about how much time it actually takes to play these 48 minutes of net play time.
I found a way to export the game data from nba.com starting from the 2015/16 season and took a closer look at actual average NBA game length. These are the results:
Average NBA Game Length
Average Length of Game
| Season | Average Length | Median Length |
|---|---|---|
| 2016/2017 | 2h14m | 2h14m |
| 2017/2018 | 2h11m | 2h10m |
| 2018/2019 | 2h12m | 2h12m |
| 2019/2020 | 2h14m | 2h14m |
| 2020/2021 | 2h13m | 2h12m |
| 2021/2022 | 2h13m | 2h12m |
How long are NBA Games?
The average NBA game in the 2021/22 season lasted 2h 13min.
To calculate this data, we looked at regular season games that didn't go to overtime. You can see in the graph that average game length has not changed much from season to season since 2016/17 varying between 2h 12min and 2h 14 min.
Did the rule changes in 2021 make NBA games shorter?
Before the 2021/22 season the NBA introduced rule changes specifically designed to speed up the end of games. Teams are limited to two timeouts in the final three minutes of a game and automatic reviews on all out-of-bounds plays in the final two minutes were eliminated.
From the data we can see that these changes had no significant impact on game length. The average duration of an NBA game actually increased by 1 minute!
To dig a little further I took a look at close games that were decided by a margin of less than 5 points.
Games decided by 5 points or less during the 2021/22 season were on average 137.9 minutes long compared to 137.3 during the previous five seasons.
So even close games are not significantly shorter on average because of the new rule changes.
# of games with specific duration
This bar chart shows game duration (including OT games) of regular season games from 2016 to 2022.
We can see that the most common game length is 2h 12min. Almost 60% of all games take between 2h 5min and 2h 20min.
Close NBA Games Are Longer
Average Length of Game
| Difference Final Score | Average Length |
|---|---|
| 0-5 points | 2h18m |
| 5-10 points | 2h15m |
| 10-15 points | 2h12m |
| 15-20 points | 2h10m |
| 20-25 points | 2h9m |
| 25-30 points | 2h9m |
| 30-35 points | 2h8m |
| 35-40 points | 2h6m |
We can see from the chart that there is a clear correlation between how close a game is and how long it is.
Games that are decided by 5 points or less are on average 2h 18min long, while blowouts decided by 30 points or more are more than 10 minutes shorter.
There are at least two reasons for that:
- In close games coaches will make sure to take all timeouts to draw up plays or make situational substitutions
- Intentional fouling at the end of close games draws out the length of games
Nationally Televised NBA Games Are Longer
Length of National TV Games
Length of Local TV Games
| Season | National Games | Local Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016/2017 | 2h20m | 2h15m |
| 2017/2018 | 2h15m | 2h11m |
| 2018/2019 | 2h17m | 2h13m |
| 2019/2020 | 2h21m | 2h14m |
| 2020/2021 | 2h18m | 2h12m |
| 2021/2022 | 2h18m | 2h13m |
The average nationally televised game is about 2h 18min long while the average locally televised basketball game is around 2h 13min long.
Nationally televised games are on average 5 minutes longer because the length of timeouts is increased for additional commercials.
Playoff NBA Games Are Longer
Length of Regular Season
Length of Playoff Games
| Season | Regular Season Games | Playoff Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016/2017 | 2h14m | 2h27m |
| 2017/2018 | 2h11m | 2h23m |
| 2018/2019 | 2h12m | 2h25m |
| 2019/2020 | 2h14m | 2h26m |
| 2020/2021 | 2h13m | 2h26m |
The average playoff NBA game (without OT games) is around 2h 25min long. That's around 12 minutes longer than an average regular season game.
The added length is due to longer timeouts for added commercials and due to the fact that games are generally closer and therefore take longer because of more timeouts and intentional fouling.
Overtime Adds Around 20 Minutes per OT
Average Length of Game
| Type of Game | Average Duration | # of games |
|---|---|---|
| Regulation | 2h13m | 6354 |
| 1 OT | 2h35m | 316 |
| 2 OT | 2h55m | 35 |
| 3 OT | 3h3m | 5 |
Games with one overtime usually last around 2h 35min (22 minutes longer than regulation games) and 2OT games are around 2h 55min long (another 20 minutes longer).
Games with 3 OT's are very rare and took on average 3h 3min.
Anything Else?
Are you interested in any other statistics around NBA game length? I have all the data, so ask me in the comments and I'll add it to the article!
Have you updated these stats? I’m an Uber driver and it’s useful know when to head to the venue for the surge.
No, the latest data is fromm the 21/22 season. But I wouldn’t assume that it changed significantly since then.