If you tuned in to the NBA’s in-season tournament action on Friday, you were probably itching to get to Tuesday considering how good those games were.
But when you searched for the schedule, you were probably shocked to learn that there are actually no NBA games on the league’s schedule on Tuesday, Nov. 7 2023. I don’t just mean in-season tournament games, either. There’s not a single game being played on Tuesday.
That’s weird considering that the in-season tournament games are supposed to be broadcast every Tuesday and Friday until December when the tournament ends.
But there’s a simple explanation for this — and it’s a pretty good reason, too. The reason why is it’s election day in certain states across the country.
Why does that matter for the NBA? Let’s dive into it.
Wait, the NBA doesn't play on Election Day?
Nope. The NBA simply doesn’t play on Election Day.
This is probably coming as a surprise for quite a few people considering that it’s not election day in every state across the country, but the league intentionally left games off the schedule for Tuesday in hopes that people would use the time to get out and vote.
This was something the NBA included in its schedule last season. It released this statement following the release of this year’s schedule.
“The league will continue to encourage fans and the broader NBA community to make a plan to vote and participate in the civic process. As part of this initiative, the NBA will share important resources from voting organizations and highlight the civic engagement work of teams in their markets.”
The NBA is encouraging people to go vote instead of watching its games.
Has this always been a thing?
No, actually. This is only the second time the NBA has left games off of its schedule on Election Day.
The first time it happened was last year in 2022. The league encouraged people to go vote in the country’s midterm election instead. It was similar to what the league is doing this year, but the election was even bigger in terms of scale across the country.
Didn't something like this happen in 2020?
Kind of, but not exactly. Remember, there weren’t any games being played in 2020 at the time of the election.
The NBA Bubble wrapped up by the end of September and the next season wouldn’t begin until Christmas Day of 2020, so there wasn’t anything scheduled as is.
The league and the players association did form a social justice coalition, however, and ended up using the arenas across the league as voting centers for people to cast their ballots in the election at the time.
So after this, what happens to the schedule?
After Tuesday things will simply go back to normal. The NBA will return to its regularly scheduled programming and the in-season tournament will maintain its regular Tuesday and Friday schedule.
The next batch of in-season tournament games is coming on Friday, November 10. It won’t miss a beat.
