Some fans believe their team performs better when playing at home or against certain opponents, but a new study has found that all NBA teams have a “luckiest” day of the week.
A study by online gambling experts at JustGamblers analyzed data from every result over the last five regular and post seasons ending after the 2023 NBA Finals to determine which days of the week each of the 30 NBA teams wins the most on.
Each franchise’s “luckiest” day was determined by their highest win percentage on each day of the week.
As for L.A.’s hometown teams, they both tend to win the most on Sundays; the Clippers have been victorious in 32 of their last 51 Sunday games, which equates to a 62.7 percent win rate.
The Lakers fared slightly worse; of the 65 games they played on Sundays, they won 40 of them, giving them with a 61.5% win rate.
Basketball fans in Milwaukee seem to enjoy the start of the weekend, as the Bucks win over 73% of their games on Saturdays, the highest such percentage of any team in the league for one day of the week.
Researchers noted one anomaly in the study; the Indiana Pacers are the only team in the entire NBA that recorded an identical win percentage on Saturdays and Tuesdays (33 wins in 58 games, or 56.9%).
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
Each team’s “luckiest” day of the week can be viewed in the table below:
| Team | “Luckiest” day | Games played on “luckiest” day | Games won on “luckiest day” | Win percentage on “luckiest” day |
| Atlanta Hawks | Sunday | 59 | 32 | 54.2% |
| Boston Celtics | Tuesday | 76 | 52 | 68.4% |
| Brooklyn Nets | Sunday | 62 | 38 | 61.3% |
| Charlotte Hornets | Tuesday | 61 | 31 | 50.8% |
| Chicago Bulls | Friday | 63 | 33 | 52.4% |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | Monday | 44 | 21 | 47.7% |
| Dallas Mavericks | Saturday | 55 | 33 | 60% |
| Denver Nuggets | Tuesday | 66 | 44 | 66.7% |
| Detroit Pistons | Thursday | 51 | 20 | 39.2% |
| Golden State Warriors | Friday | 57 | 40 | 70.2% |
| Houston Rockets | Monday | 51 | 24 | 47.1% |
| *Indiana Pacers | Tuesday | 58 | 33 | 56.9% |
| *Indiana Pacers | Saturday | 58 | 33 | 56.9% |
| Los Angeles Clippers | Sunday | 51 | 32 | 62.7% |
| Los Angeles Lakers | Sunday | 65 | 40 | 61.5% |
| Memphis Grizzlies | Friday | 64 | 38 | 59.4% |
| Miami Heat | Saturday | 64 | 39 | 60.9% |
| Milwaukee Bucks | Saturday | 67 | 49 | 73.1% |
| Minnesota Timberwolves | Friday | 56 | 30 | 53.6% |
| New Orleans Pelicans | Sunday | 57 | 28 | 49.1% |
| New York Knicks | Saturday | 53 | 25 | 47.2% |
| Oklahoma City Thunder | Saturday | 63 | 35 | 55.6% |
| Orlando Magic | Monday | 58 | 29 | 50% |
| Philadelphia 76ers | Thursday | 53 | 38 | 71.7% |
| Phoenix Suns | Tuesday | 69 | 42 | 60.9% |
| Portland Trail Blazers | Friday | 57 | 36 | 63.2% |
| Sacramento Kings | Tuesday | 55 | 30 | 54.5% |
| San Antonio Spurs | Saturday | 53 | 28 | 52.8% |
| Toronto Raptors | Monday | 59 | 42 | 71.2% |
| Utah Jazz | Monday | 44 | 29 | 65.9% |
| Washington Wizards | Thursday | 61 | 29 | 47.5% |
The team with the “unluckiest” day, according to the study, is the New York Knicks, who win less than half of their Saturday games despite it being their “luckiest” day of the week.
KTLA is proud to broadcast select Clippers games throughout the 2023-24 NBA season in addition to launching a miniseries about the team called “Clippers Clipboard” that will provide fans with behind-the-scenes access and exclusive interviews with stars like Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, Paul George and the team’s latest All-Star acquisition, James Harden.