by Dashiell Nusbaum

Alternate link to story: https://medium.com/push-the-pace/the-factors-that-influence-nba-home-court-advantage-2a5a602f8c1f

Many see sports as the ultimate “equal playing field” — where the same rules, regulations, and opportunities exist for all, where the best team will emerge victorious. This isn’t always the case.

We find the existence of a “home court advantage” across sports, where teams are more likely to win at home than away. This is especially true of the NBA, which has the largest home team advantage among the four major American sports. The existence and magnitude of a home court advantage has been extensively studied; however, we lack an understanding of the factors that cause certain teams to have larger home court advantage than others.

I found the average regular-season home court advantage for all 30 NBA teams from 2008-09 through 2018-19. Home court advantage is a team’s winning percentage at home minus their winning percentage on the road. For example, from the 08-09 through 18-19 season, the Denver Nuggets won 75.62% of their home games and 46.52% of their away games. Therefore, Denver’s home court advantage = 75.62% – 46.52% = 29.10%.

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