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New NBA Players by Season

A season-by-season look at the number of new players entering the NBA, the cumulative total of players, the number of teams in the league, and major franchise additions, relocations and name changes.

The NBA has changed dramatically since the league's first season in 1946-47. Expansion, relocations, franchise mergers and modern roster rules have all affected the number of new players entering the league.

The table below preserves the historical player counts used by NBAHoopsOnline while presenting the information in a cleaner and more readable format.

New NBA Players by Year
Season New Players Cumulative Teams League / Franchise Notes
1946-47 161 161 11 Teams: Boston Celtics, Chicago Stags, Cleveland Rebels, Detroit Falcons, New York Knickerbockers, Philadelphia Warriors, Pittsburgh Ironmen, Providence Steam Rollers, St. Louis Bombers, Toronto Huskies and Washington Capitols.
1947-48 39 200 8 Added Baltimore Bullets; dropped Cleveland Rebels, Detroit Falcons, Pittsburgh Ironmen and Toronto Huskies.
1948-49 95 295 12 Added Fort Wayne Pistons, Indianapolis Jets, Minneapolis Lakers and Rochester Royals.
1949-50 120 415 17 Added Anderson Packers, Denver Nuggets, Indianapolis Olympians, Sheboygan Red Skins, Syracuse Nationals, Tri-Cities Blackhawks and Waterloo Hawks; dropped Indianapolis Jets and Providence Steam Rollers.
1950-51 30 445 11 Dropped Anderson Packers, Chicago Stags, Denver Nuggets, Sheboygan Red Skins, St. Louis Bombers and Waterloo Hawks; Washington Capitols folded during the season.
1951-52 29 474 10 Tri-Cities Blackhawks became the Milwaukee Hawks.
1952-53 34 508 10 No changes.
1953-54 35 543 9 Dropped Indianapolis Olympians.
1954-55 35 578 9 Baltimore Bullets folded during the season.
1955-56 29 607 8 Milwaukee Hawks became the St. Louis Hawks.
1956-57 26 633 8 No changes.
1957-58 21 654 8 Rochester Royals became the Cincinnati Royals; Fort Wayne Pistons became the Detroit Pistons.
1958-59 25 679 8 No changes.
1959-60 19 698 8 No changes.
1960-61 20 718 8 Minneapolis Lakers became the Los Angeles Lakers.
1961-62 36 754 9 Added Chicago Packers.
1962-63 36 790 9 Philadelphia Warriors became the San Francisco Warriors; Chicago Packers became the Chicago Zephyrs.
1963-64 23 813 9 Syracuse Nationals became the Philadelphia 76ers; Chicago Zephyrs became the Baltimore Bullets.
1964-65 25 838 9 No changes.
1965-66 23 861 9 No changes.
1966-67 32 893 10 Added Chicago Bulls.
1967-68 45 938 12 Added San Diego Rockets and Seattle SuperSonics.
1968-69 43 981 14 Added Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns; St. Louis Hawks became the Atlanta Hawks.
1969-70 37 1,018 14 No changes.
1970-71 66 1,084 17 Added Buffalo Braves, Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers.
1971-72 53 1,137 17 San Diego Rockets became the Houston Rockets; San Francisco Warriors became the Golden State Warriors.
1972-73 49 1,186 17 Cincinnati Royals became the Kansas City-Omaha Kings.
1973-74 44 1,230 17 Baltimore Bullets became the Capital Bullets.
1974-75 54 1,284 18 Added New Orleans Jazz; Capital Bullets became the Washington Bullets.
1975-76 54 1,338 18 Kansas City-Omaha Kings became the Kansas City Kings.
1976-77 83 1,421 22 Added Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets and San Antonio Spurs.
1977-78 57 1,478 22 New York Nets became the New Jersey Nets.
1978-79 53 1,531 22 Buffalo Braves became the San Diego Clippers.
1979-80 53 1,584 22 New Orleans Jazz became the Utah Jazz.
1980-81 77 1,661 23 Added Dallas Mavericks.
1981-82 66 1,727 23 No changes.
1982-83 62 1,789 23 No changes.
1983-84 55 1,844 23 No changes.
1984-85 60 1,904 23 San Diego Clippers became the Los Angeles Clippers.
1985-86 62 1,966 23 Kansas City Kings became the Sacramento Kings.
1986-87 63 2,029 23 No changes.
1987-88 59 2,088 23 No changes.
1988-89 77 2,165 25 Added Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat.
1989-90 80 2,245 27 Added Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic.
1990-91 73 2,318 27 No changes.
1991-92 62 2,380 27 No changes.
1992-93 66 2,446 27 No changes.
1993-94 72 2,518 27 No changes.
1994-95 60 2,578 27 No changes.
1995-96 74 2,652 29 Added Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies.
1996-97 69 2,721 29 No changes.
1997-98 66 2,787 29 Washington Bullets became the Washington Wizards.
1998-99 68 2,855 29 No changes.
1999-00 60 2,915 29 No changes.
2000-01 68 2,983 29 No changes.
2001-02 69 3,052 29 Vancouver Grizzlies became the Memphis Grizzlies.
2002-03 64 3,116 29 Charlotte Hornets became the New Orleans Hornets.
2003-04 67 3,183 29 No changes.
2004-05 70 3,253 30 Added Charlotte Bobcats.
2005-06 85 3,338 30 New Orleans Hornets became the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets.
2006-07 80 3,418 30 No changes.
2007-08 64 3,482 30 No changes.
2008-09 62 3,544 30 Seattle SuperSonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder.
2009-10 58 3,602 30 No changes.
2010-11 67 3,669 30 No changes.
2011-12 81 3,750 30 No changes.
2012-13 78 3,828 30 New Jersey Nets became the Brooklyn Nets.
2013-14 78 3,906 30 New Orleans Hornets became the New Orleans Pelicans; Charlotte Bobcats became the Charlotte Hornets.
2015-16 73 3,979 30 No changes.
2016-17 88 4,067 30 No changes.
2017-18 120 4,187 30 Two-way contracts introduced.
2018-19 105 4,292 30 No changes.
2019-20 118 4,410 30 No changes.
2020-21 94 4,504 30 No changes.
2021-22 126 4,630 30 No changes.
2022-23 85 4,715 30 No changes.
2023-24 101 4,816 30 Third two-way contract roster spot added.
2024-25 104 4,920 30 No changes.
2025-26 103 5,023 30 No changes.
Notes

New Players: The number of players counted as entering the NBA during that season under NBAHoopsOnline's historical methodology.

Cumulative: The running total of new players included in this data set through that season.

Teams: The number of NBA teams listed for that season. Expansion, contraction, relocation and franchise name changes are included in the notes column.

The original NBAHoopsOnline table does not contain a 2014-15 row. The remaining historical totals have been preserved rather than recalculating the entire data set using a different methodology.