Has the NBA Ever Played on Thanksgiving?

Football tends to dominate Thanksgiving in the U.S., with three big NFL games throughout the day. But the NBA tends to cede the day to the NFL and doesn’t have games the way it does on Christmas Day. In fact, this is the 12th season in a row, the NBA has no games scheduled on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is one of four days on the calendar that never feature NBA games — not including the All-Star break. The league never has games on Christmas Eve, won’t put them on the day of the NCAA championship, and takes Election Day off to encourage players and fans to vote.

The removal of Thanksgiving Day games is a fairly recent phenomenon, as the NBA scheduled them until 12 years ago. The last time games were played on Thanksgiving was 2010. If that’s bumming you out don’t worry, the league has a full slate of 14 games set for Thanksgiving eve, and a 10-game slate set for Black Friday.

The fact that the NFL has games scheduled at12:30 ET, 4:30 ET and 8:20 ET means that football dominates Turkey Day. It’s probably smart for the NBA to give its players the day off.