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What’s the most games played in an NBA season?
Okay, this was a trick question. (But you probably already figured out at least that much.) Each NBA teams plays 82 games in a season, and each season dozens of players put in at least a few minutes into all of them. But is there a hundreds-way-tie for the record of “most games played in an NBA season”? Not exactly. Hall of Famer Walt Bellamy holds the record all by himself: 88 games played in the 1968-69 season.
In October 1968, Bellamy began his eighth season in the league with the New York Knicks. He plays in 35 games, until just before Christmas he was traded to the Detroit Pistons. (The Pistons first game was against the Knicks. Bellamy scored 18 points.) At the time of the trade, the Knicks had played six more games than the Pistons, and enjoyed a brief break. The Pistons, meanwhile, had to make up some games. By the end of the season, Bellamy played in 53 games as a Piston. Added to his Knicks totals, that’s 88 games, or six more than everybody else.
He couldn’t played in even more, if playoffs count…but the Pistons didn’t make them that year. They finished 32-50 and missed the postseason. (The Knicks, however, did fine without Bellamy and finished 54-28.)
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