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The NBA is the peak of basketball, and its rich history is plentiful. There is always new history in the making, and the fun facts keep on churning. If you're a ******** NBA fan, you probably know some of these, but if not, feel free to add them to your "fun fact" arsenal next time you are hanging with friends.
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Here are 28 interesting facts that every NBA should know:
1. Let's start with the most recent: 19-year-old Cooper Flagg became the youngest player to score 50-plus points (51 PTS) on April 3, 2026. The young kid from Newport, Maine, looks like he is going to be special and have some fun facts of his own in the years to come.
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2. On November 12, 2010, then-Minnesota Timberwolves player Kevin Love recorded one of the most interesting NBA stat lines ever. Against the New York Knicks, he scored 31 points and recorded 31 rebounds. The 31-point, 31-rebound game was unheard of in today's game, and just a glimpse of his superstar ability and potential.
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3. Speaking of games with 30 points and 30 rebounds, Bill Russell holds second place for the most all-time, having three total. Wilt Chamberlain holds the first-place spot...with 128 total 30-30 games. Holy. ****.
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Related: "They Decapitated The Referee And Stuck His Head On A Pike": 11 Athletes Who Commited Shocking Crimes During Games
4. I could do an entire list of just Wilt Chamberlain's interesting *** facts. In the 1961-62 season, Chamberlain averaged 48.5 minutes per game. For comparison, the average NBA starter does not average 40 minutes per game. Which means Chamberlain basically never sat. He only missed eight minutes of one game after he was ejected in the fourth quarter.
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5. Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out in his NBA career. That's 1,045 games in which he averaged 8.8 blocks per game. It's truly a *** stat.
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6. On January 6, 1951, the Indianapolis Olympians defeated the Rochester Royals. Final score: 75-73. Seems like a low-scoring game, right? Well, you'd never guess this game had SIX OVERTIMES. It lasted 78 total minutes, making it the longest NBA game of all time.
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7. NBA legend Kevin Garnett played against both the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (72 wins) and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (73 wins). The two most winning teams in a single season, and KG witnessed both on the court. Proof that he had a very long and successful career.
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8. The three-point line was not adopted by the NBA until the 1979-80 season. It's interesting because it did, however, exist in the game of basketball before, thanks to the ABA. The NBA followed and adapted the popular addition to the game. Chris Ford of the Boston Celtics was the first NBA player to record a three-pointer.
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9. NBA players Deron Williams, JJ Barea, and Raymond Felton all played point guard for the Dallas Mavericks in 2016. All three men were born on June 26, 1984. Same age. Same birthday. Same same. What. Are. The. Chances?
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Related: I Can't Process The Major Height Differences Between These Athletes And Celebrities, And You Have To See These Photos For Yourself
10. After moving on from veteran players in 2025, Jaren Jackson Jr. became the longest tenured player on the Memphis Grizzlies. He was 25 at the time, and is currently only 26. Not a good way to build your organization. And, guess what? He is now on the Utah Jazz. Kind of hard to build a franchise when you refuse to keep players.
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11. One of the strangest trades in sports happened in 1978. Boston Celtics owner Irv Levin and Buffalo Braves owner John Y. Brown Jr. swapped franchises. Levin moved his team to California, where they would eventually become the Los Angeles Clippers. Brown took over the Celtics.
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12. How good was Hakeem Olajuwon? The year Olajuwon won the League MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and the Finals MVP in the 1993-94 season, he shot 42% (8/19) from three-point land. In case you're too young to know, he was a 7-foot center for the Houston Rockets. Big guys weren't shooting like that back in the day.
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13. Back in the '40s, the NBA was originally called the Basketball Association of America (BAA) for its first three seasons. In 1949, it merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to become the National Basketball Association (NBA).
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14. A torn ACL can end a season for an NBA player, but imagine having no ACLs at all. Pitt player DeJuan Blair played seven NBA seasons without an anterior cruciate ligament in either knee. Despite that, he played as hard in the pros as he did in college.
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15. More than 30 NBA players in history have won the MVP award, but only six former NBA MVPs have passed away. These names include Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant, Wes Unseld, Moses Malone, and Willis Reed.
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16. The Indiana Pacers have never held the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft. Even wilder, the Pacers have never had a former No. 1 overall pick play for them. Nowadays, with so many players on the move, it's shocking the Pacers have kept this streak alive.
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17. Muggsy Bogues, the smallest player in NBA history, has a recorded block on Patrick Ewing, an all-time center. One of those NBA moments that, if it wasn't recorded, nobody would believe it.
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18. On February 13, 2008, Carlos Boozer recorded a triple-double for the Utah Jazz against the Seattle Sonics. For a timestamp, this happened during the George W. Bush administration. This was the last regular-season triple-double the Jazz had had until Jordan Clarkson broke the streak in 2024. That's 16 years, 82 NBA games a season. Wow. Just wow.
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19. There was a vote to change the name of the New Jersey Nets to the Swamp Dragons, which passed 26-1. The only team against it: the New Jersey Nets. The "Nets" just feel so NBA, so luckily, we didn't get another bad name. *looks at the Wizards*
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20. There's a SEVEN-way tie for the most missed three-pointers in a single game by a player (16). Damon Stoudemire has one game. James Harden has the other SIX. ("Hamilton wrote the other 51!")
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21. Despite the NBA feeling very Star-Spangled-coded, the first NBA game was played in Toronto, Canada. The New York Knickerbockers played the Toronto Huskies in the first-ever NBA matchup back in 1946. The Knicks would win the first NBA game. Got a good feelin' about those guys!
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22. From 1980 to 2022, the only Western Conference NBA teams to win championships were from the states of California and Texas. The 1979 Seattle SuperSonics were the last, until the Denver Nuggets broke the streak in 2023, and now, the Oklahoma City Thunder were the most recent champs! That's great news for West teams outside of California and Texas!
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23. Dennis Rodman is known as one of the greatest rebounders in NBA history. Surprisingly, he didn't lead the league in rebounding until he was 30. He would go on to lead the league in rebounds for SEVEN straight seasons. Watch out for "The Worm."
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24. Imagine being in the Basketball Hall of Fame with only a dozen NBA games played. Well, Mel Daniels played the fewest NBA games among Basketball Hall of Famers, appearing in only 11. The reasoning? I bet most basketball fans could guess, but Daniels was famously an ABA player, so he only played in the 1976-77 season at the age of 32.
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25. Not every NBA player's heart is in the right place. That statement is quite literal for former NBA player Randy Foye. He has situs inversus, a rare condition where his organs are reversed, so his heart is on the right side of his chest instead of the left.
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26. Kobe Bryant's middle name is "Bean" in honor of his father's nickname "Jellybean." I wonder if there is a Black Mamba-flavored jelly bean out there.
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27. Until 1937, basketball rules required a jump ball at center court after EVERY made basket. Height was a huge advantage for possession back then, making it the ultimate "make-it, take-it" kind of game with less total scoring. Safe to say, the sport is a lot faster without this rule.
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28. And finally, Bill Russell appeared in 12 NBA Finals with the Boston Celtics. He lost the NBA Finals only once...spoiler: Russell was injured. Russell reached the Finals in every season he played, except for 1967. One of the most impressive runs in sports history.
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Do you have an interesting NBA fact you'd like to share? Comment below!
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