We took the final score of every regular-season game since 1996-97, 35,546 in all, and every playoff game since 1983-84 from NBA.com's official team game logs, and measured the winning margin. A blowout here is a game decided by 20 points or more; a close game, one decided by three or fewer.
NBA margin of victory by season
Over the 30 seasons the average NBA game was decided by 11.2 points and the median by nine. For 15 years the numbers barely moved: from 1996-97 to 2010-11, 13.6 percent of games were decided by 20 or more and 2.7 percent by 30 or more, at an average margin of 10.8 points.
Over the last five seasons, 2021-22 to 2025-26, those shares were 19.5 and 6.1 percent, and the average margin 12.4 points. The five seasons with the most 20-point games have all come since 2020-21, and 2025-26 set 30-season highs on all four counts: an average margin of 13.3 points, a median of 11, 281 games decided by 20 or more and 96 by 30 or more, against 36 by 30 or more in 1996-97.
Why NBA games are getting more lopsided
Two things changed, and close games were not one of them. The share of games decided by three points or fewer has stayed between 13.6 and 18.2 percent every season: 15.7 percent from 1996-97 to 2010-11 and 14.5 percent over the last five seasons. What grew is the far end of the distribution.
- More points. Teams scored 115.6 points per game in 2025-26 against 96.9 in 1996-97, and margins grow with scores. Measured against a team's score, the average margin in 2025-26 was 11.5 percent, the fourth-highest of the 30 seasons but close to 1996-97 (11.3) and 1997-98 (11.6). The low was 9.7 percent in 2022-23.
- A wider gap between teams. The standard deviation of the 30 teams' season point differentials, a measure of how far apart the best and worst teams are, was 6.1 points per game in 2025-26, the widest of the 30 seasons. It averaged 4.7, with a low of 3.8 in 2005-06.
The same spread is the likeliest reason fewer games reach overtime. Our count of NBA overtime games found that the standard deviation of margins in regulation games reached 16.7 points in 2025-26, the widest of the 30 seasons, while the share of games tied after 48 minutes fell to 4.4 percent, the lowest.
The most common margin of victory in the NBA
Seven points is the most common final margin in the NBA, in 2,289 regular-season games since 1996-97, 6.4 percent. The next are close behind:
- Five points, 2,252 games; six, 2,202; and eight, 2,164.
- One point is less common than two or three: 1,451 games, 4.1 percent, against 1,982 and 2,009.
- Just over half of all games, 51.7 percent, were decided by nine points or fewer.
Biggest blowout in NBA history
The Grizzlies' 73-point win at home over the Thunder on December 2, 2021, is the largest margin of victory in NBA history. It broke the record of 68 points that the Cleveland Cavaliers had set with a 148-80 win over the Miami Heat on December 17, 1991. The second-largest margin in our data, 65 points, came when the Indiana Pacers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 124-59 on February 27, 1998.
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2, 2021 | Memphis Grizzlies | 152-79 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 73 |
| February 27, 1998 | Indiana Pacers | 124-59 | Portland Trail Blazers | 65 |
| January 11, 2024 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 139-77 | Portland Trail Blazers | 62 |
| March 22, 2018 | Charlotte Hornets | 140-79 | Memphis Grizzlies | 61 |
| March 29, 2024 | Miami Heat | 142-82 | Portland Trail Blazers | 60 |
| January 15, 2025 | LA Clippers | 126-67 | Brooklyn Nets | 59 |
| May 1, 2021 | Indiana Pacers | 152-95 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 57 |
| December 8, 2018 | Boston Celtics | 133-77 | Chicago Bulls | 56 |
| April 9, 2023 | Golden State Warriors | 157-101 | Portland Trail Blazers | 56 |
| January 11, 2011 | Los Angeles Lakers | 112-57 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 55 |
| January 10, 2026 | Charlotte Hornets | 150-95 | Utah Jazz | 55 |
Most of the biggest wins are recent. Of the 14 margins of 54 points or more since 1996-97, 12 came from 2017-18 on, and Portland lost four of the 11 games in the table. The largest road win is the Pacers' 152-95 win at Oklahoma City on May 1, 2021, 57 points. The 2021-22 Trail Blazers lost 15 games by 30 or more, the most in a season since 1996-97, and the 2025-26 Thunder won 11, also the most.
Blowouts late in the season: tanking and resting
Blowouts become more common as the season goes on. Over the 26 full-length seasons since 1996-97, between 14.5 and 15.0 percent of games were decided by 20 or more in each month from October to February, then 16.3 percent in March and 16.2 in April.
The last two weeks of the season are where it has changed. From 1996-97 to 2010-11 they looked like the rest of the season: 14.5 percent of games decided by 20 or more against 13.6, and 2.5 percent by 30 or more against 2.8. Over the last five seasons, the final 14 days had 23.8 percent of games decided by 20 or more and 9.1 percent by 30 or more, against 19.1 and 5.8 percent before them, and only 9.5 percent of their games were decided by three or fewer, against 15.0. The game logs cannot separate tanking from teams resting starters or missing injured players.
Biggest blowouts in NBA playoff history
Playoff games, between better teams, are not closer. Since 1996-97, 16.7 percent of the 2,440 playoff games were decided by 20 or more and 4.5 percent by 30 or more, against 15.3 and 3.6 percent in the regular season. Over the last five postseasons it was 22.7 and 9.0 percent, against 19.5 and 6.1. The NBA Finals are the exception: 29 of 244 Finals games since 1984, 11.9 percent, were decided by 20 or more.
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 27, 2009 | Denver Nuggets | 121-63 | New Orleans Hornets | 58 |
| April 28, 2025 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 138-83 | Miami Heat | 55 |
| April 30, 2015 | Chicago Bulls | 120-66 | Milwaukee Bucks | 54 |
| April 20, 2025 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 131-80 | Memphis Grizzlies | 51 |
| April 30, 2026 | New York Knicks | 140-89 | Atlanta Hawks | 51 |
| June 7, 1998 (Finals) | Chicago Bulls | 96-54 | Utah Jazz | 42 |
- The playoff record is 58 points, shared by the Denver Nuggets' 121-63 win in New Orleans in 2009 and the Minneapolis Lakers' win over the St. Louis Hawks on March 19, 1956.
- The biggest Finals win is the Chicago Bulls' 96-54 win over the Utah Jazz on June 7, 1998, 42 points.
- The 2026 New York Knicks won the title 16-3 and outscored their opponents by 283 points, the largest point differential in a single postseason, with five wins by 20 or more.
- The play-in tournament's biggest margin in 36 games since 2021 is the Orlando Magic's 121-90 win over the Charlotte Hornets on April 17, 2026.
Does a blowout predict the next game between the same teams?
It says who is better, and no more. We paired every regular-season game with the next meeting of the same two teams that season, 22,859 pairs. Teams that had won by 30 or more won the rematch 65.5 percent of the time, but by an average of 5.7 points after winning the first game by 35.3. Winners of games decided by three or fewer won the rematch 51.5 percent of the time.
The rematch margin was no bigger than the two teams' season point differentials and home court predicted: 6.2 points for the 30-point winners, who were the better team that season 87.5 percent of the time. The same held at every margin.
In the playoffs there is no bounce-back either. Since 1983-84, a team that lost a playoff game by 20 or more won the next game of the series 42.4 percent of the time, 180 of 425, against 54.2 percent after a loss by fewer than 10. And a Game 1 won by 20 or more led to a series win 102 times in 118, 86.4 percent, against the 77 percent of all Game 1 winners.
Blowouts and the 2026-27 NBA season
The 2026-27 regular season starts on Tuesday, October 20, and ends on Sunday, April 11, 2027; no games have been played yet. It is the first season whose standings feed the 3-2-1 draft lottery, which the Board of Governors approved on May 28 for the 2027 to 2029 drafts to remove the incentive to put draft position ahead of winning: the three worst teams get fewer lottery balls, not more. How the new odds work is covered separately. Every game is on the 2026-27 NBA schedule, and our NBA season simulator plays out the standings.
NBA blowouts: frequently asked questions
What is the biggest blowout in NBA history? The Memphis Grizzlies' 152-79 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on December 2, 2021, by 73 points. The previous record was the Cleveland Cavaliers' 68-point win over the Miami Heat, 148-80, on December 17, 1991.
What is the biggest blowout in NBA playoff history? 58 points, by the Denver Nuggets, 121-63 at New Orleans on April 27, 2009, and the Minneapolis Lakers against the St. Louis Hawks on March 19, 1956.
What is the average margin of victory in the NBA? 11.2 points over the 30 regular seasons since 1996-97, with a median of nine. In 2025-26 it was 13.3 points, the highest of those seasons.
How this was built: every NBA regular-season game from 1996-97 to 2025-26 (35,546 games; the canceled Indiana-Boston game of April 16, 2013, is left out), every playoff game from 1983-84 to 2026 and every play-in game since 2021, from NBA.com's official team game logs. The margin is the winner's points minus the loser's, overtime included, checked against each team's plus-minus. Month and late-season figures leave out 1998-99, 2011-12, 2019-20 and 2020-21. Point differentials use each team's full regular season. Records outside our data come from Wikipedia's NBA record lists; 2026-27 dates and lottery rules from NBA Communications, as of October 13, 2026.