Why are there no NBA games on Thanksgiving? Understanding the absence of basketball on Nov. 28

If you follow the NBA, you may have noticed that there are no games scheduled on November 28th. If you're not from the U.S., you might be wondering why.

This is because the league has officially decided not to have games played on Thanksgiving, one of the most important holidays for Americans.

According to a report by Front Office Sports, the league, which hasn't had games played on Thanksgiving since 2010, doesn't intend to change that stance at any point in their new 11-year media deal.

The NBA doesn't want to compete with the NFL

Thanksgiving is the day of the year when families gather around two main things: great food and football. That's likely why the NBA doesn't want to interfere with that tradition.

That hasn't always been the case. The league had games scheduled on this holiday before 1982, and they did so again from 1994 to 2006. Then, they did so again from 2008 to 2010 before stopping once again.

The league hasn't had more games played on Thanksgiving since their lockout season.

Truth be told, that makes perfect sense for everybody involved. The NFL is still king when it comes to ratings, with some preseason games even drawing more viewers than actual NBA Finals games.

The NFL is already making life hard for the NBA by having games played on Christmas Day, which used to be all about basketball. The latter, however, doesn't want to try and do the same, knowing how difficult it would be to compete with football's historic triple-header.

Per reports, the Association's partnership with Amazon intends to make Black Friday the ultimate sports day, with football and basketball games, changing its historical meaning of staying out in the mall hunting for bargain deals.

The NFL debuted its first Black Friday game back in 2021. Due to their anti-trust exemption, they can't air games on Friday nights past 6 p.m. ET, so they will gauge the early hours of the day while the NBA finishes things off later.

Of course, this might all be a little confusing or annoying for non-US fans, as this is an American-centric holiday. Even so, given how popular the NFL is in the United States, the league knows better than to try and dare poke the bear and start a battle they might not win.