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50 free NBA 2023 trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
2023 was one of the strangest and best years the NBA has had: Denver finally won it all behind Nikola Jokić, an eighth-seeded Miami team went through the play-in and knocked out the top-seeded Bucks, LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, two players scored 71 in a game, Luka Dončić posted a 60-20-10 triple-double, the Kings ended a 16-year playoff drought, Victor Wembanyama arrived and the league staged its first In-Season Tournament in Las Vegas. This NBA trivia 2023 quiz covers all of it: the 2022-23 regular season and its awards (Embiid's MVP, Banchero, Jaren Jackson Jr., Markkanen), the playoffs game by game, the Finals, the draft, the All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, the summer trades (Lillard, Durant, Irving, Beal, Chris Paul), the coaching changes, the ownership sales and the FIBA World Cup. Questions range from easy for anyone who watched to genuinely hard for people who followed every transaction. Every answer is checked against documented season records and box scores rather than memory, so it holds up in a bar argument.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which team won the 2023 NBA Finals, the first championship in its franchise history?
Denver Nuggets
It took 47 seasons; they became only the second former ABA team, after the Spurs, to win an NBA title.
Q 02Who was unanimously named MVP of the 2023 NBA Finals?
Nikola Jokić
He averaged 30.2 points, 14 rebounds and 7.2 assists and became the lowest draft pick (41st) ever to win the award.
Q 03The 2023 Finals ended in how many games?
Five
The clincher was a 94-89 grind in Denver on June 12, one of the lowest-scoring Finals games of the modern era.
Q 04Which team reached the 2023 Finals as an eighth seed after coming through the play-in tournament?
Miami Heat
They lost their first play-in game to Atlanta, beat Chicago in the second, then knocked out the top-seeded Bucks.
Q 05Which top-seeded title favourite did the eighth-seeded Heat upset in the first round in 2023?
Milwaukee Bucks
Giannis Antetokounmpo hurt his back in Game 1, and the loss cost coach Mike Budenholzer his job.
Q 06Jimmy Butler scored a career-high how many points in Game 4 of Miami's first-round upset in 2023?
56
It set a Heat franchise playoff record and included 22 points in the first quarter alone.
Q 07What happened after the Celtics forced Game 7 from 0-3 down against Miami in the 2023 East finals?
The Heat won it on the road
No NBA team has ever overturned a 3-0 deficit; Butler was named East finals MVP.
Q 08Which seventh seed beat Memphis and Golden State before Denver swept them in the 2023 Western Conference finals?
Los Angeles Lakers
It was the first time since the 16-team format began in 1984 that both a 7 seed and an 8 seed won a first-round series.
Q 09Which franchise ended the longest playoff drought in NBA history, 16 seasons, by qualifying in 2023?
Sacramento Kings
The 'light the beam' Kings had not made the postseason since 2006; Mike Brown was voted Coach of the Year.
Q 10Who scored 50 points in Game 7 against Sacramento in 2023, the first 50-point Game 7 in NBA history?
Stephen Curry
The defending champion Warriors advanced but fell to the Lakers in the next round.
Q 11Whose 51 points against Philadelphia in 2023 set the record for most points in a Game 7?
Jayson Tatum
Boston then blew a 3-0 comeback attempt in the next round, losing Game 7 at home to Miami.
Q 12Who won his first NBA MVP in 2022-23 after leading the league with 33.1 points a game?
Joel Embiid
He beat two-time winner Jokić and Giannis after finishing runner-up the previous two years.
Q 13On February 7, 2023, LeBron James passed whom to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer?
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The record-breaking bucket was a fadeaway jumper over Kenrich Williams of the Thunder.
Q 21After whom did the NBA rename its Most Valuable Player trophy in 2022-23?
Michael Jordan
The old Maurice Podoloff Trophy went to the team with the best regular-season record instead.
Q 22Whose number 6 did the NBA retire league-wide in 2022, the first such honour in its history?
Bill Russell
Players already wearing 6, like LeBron James, were allowed to keep it.
Q 23Who scored a record 55 points in the 2023 All-Star Game and was named its MVP?
Jayson Tatum
Team Giannis beat Team LeBron 184-175 in the last game played with captain-picked teams.
Q 14Which two players each scored 71 points in a game during the 2022-23 season?
Damian Lillard and Donovan Mitchell
Mitchell did it for Cleveland against Chicago on January 2; Lillard matched it for Portland against Houston in February.
Q 15On December 27, 2022, who became the first player ever to record a 60-point, 20-rebound triple-double?
Luka Dončić
His 60-21-10 came in an overtime comeback win over the Knicks after Dallas trailed by nine with 33 seconds left.
Q 16Who won the 2022-23 Rookie of the Year after going first overall to Orlando in the 2022 draft?
Paolo Banchero
He had been ACC Rookie of the Year at Duke the previous spring.
Q 17Which Memphis big man won the 2022-23 Defensive Player of the Year award?
Jaren Jackson Jr.
He led the league in blocks in the same season he made his first All-Star team.
Q 18Which Finnish forward won the 2022-23 Most Improved Player award in his first season with Utah?
Lauri Markkanen
He arrived in the Rudy Gobert trade and promptly made his first All-Star team.
Q 19Which Celtics guard was the 2022-23 Sixth Man of the Year?
Malcolm Brogdon
He was traded to Portland that autumn in the Jrue Holiday deal.
Q 20Which brand-new award, first handed out in 2023, went to Sacramento's De'Aaron Fox?
Clutch Player of the Year
The league also renamed its MVP trophy after its most decorated 1990s champion the same season.
Q 24Where was the 2023 All-Star Game held, 30 years after the venue last hosted it?
Salt Lake City
The Jazz's Vivint Arena staged it; the 1993 game there featured Karl Malone and John Stockton as co-MVPs.
Q 25Which 7-foot-4 French centre went first overall in the 2023 draft?
Victor Wembanyama
He had just been named the youngest MVP in French Pro A history and went on to be unanimous Rookie of the Year.
Q 26Which team won the 2023 draft lottery and the right to pick Wembanyama?
San Antonio Spurs
They had a 14% chance after a 22-60 season, tied for the best odds with Houston and Detroit.
Q 27Which Alabama forward did Charlotte take second overall in the 2023 draft, ahead of Scoot Henderson?
Brandon Miller
Henderson went third to Portland; the Thompson twins Amen and Ausar went fourth and fifth.
Q 28Where was the 2023 NBA draft held?
Barclays Center, Brooklyn
It was the 77th draft, held on June 22, ten days after the Finals ended.
Q 29Scoot Henderson, the third pick in 2023, skipped college to play for which team?
NBA G League Ignite
He signed at 17, the youngest player in G League history.
Q 30Damian Lillard was traded from Portland to which team in September 2023?
Milwaukee Bucks
The three-team deal sent Jrue Holiday and Deandre Ayton to Portland; Holiday was flipped to Boston days later.