2022-23 NBA Season Sets New Marks In Attendance, Sellout Crowds

Every NBA franchise knows that fans are the heart and soul of every game that their players appear in and they have responded in kind throughout the regular season.

According to the NBA's data, the 2022-23 NBA season has set new all-time records for total attendance (22.2 million), average attendance (18,077), sellout crowds (791) and venue capacity (97 percent).

The previous record for regular season total attendance was set in the 2017-18 season with 22.1 million fans coming out of their homes and places of work to watch the best basketball players in the world strut their stuff.

While that season would be best remembered for the Golden State Warriors sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in their fourth-straight NBA Finals matchup, it also saw moments such as James Harden finally winning MVP honors, Russell Westbrook recording a second triple-double season average and Larry Nance Jr. dunking on Kevin Durant as a member of the Warriors.

The 2017-18 regular season was an action-packed one from start to finish and featured a tight playoff race in both the Eastern and Western Conferences with the Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets claiming top spots respectively.

Of the stats revealed by the league, the number of sellout crowds they have had this season points to the overall rise of competition between franchises with many of them hoping to secure a top-six finish and prevent the dreaded play-in tournament.

Fans of the most popular basketball league in the world certainly had their reasons to cheer on their respective squads live in their home arenas and it propelled teams like the Sacramento Kings, Cleveland Cavaliers, Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder to be in spots for success.

Kings faithful have the most reason to celebrate as their franchise claimed a top-three seed for the first time since the 2002-03 season where they won the Pacific Division–something that they also achieved this season.

Lastly, this season also marks their return to postseason action since the 2005-06 season.

The regular season also saw another feather in the cap for all-time great LeBron James and arguably his biggest as he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time leading scorer in the league in mid-February.

To top off all the drama this season, NBA fans have also witnessed one of the most intriguing races for the MVP award between frontrunners Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and even Giannis Antetokounmpo with all three men having substantial claims.

With the conclusion of the regular season, attention now shifts to the play-in tournament which kicks off tomorrow, April 11 with the seven-eight seed matchup between the East's Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat plus the Los Angeles Lakers squaring off against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

This year's playoffs will surely produce similar numbers as the action heats up with a chance of lifting the Larry O'Brien trophy only being 16 wins away.