🏀 CONNECTIONS

Find four groups of 5 NBA players that share a connection

NBA Connections | DoUKnowBall

A daily puzzle where you group NBA players by what connects them: same franchise, same milestone, same country, or same draft slot.

Twenty NBA players sit in a grid, and they are not random. Hiding inside are four groups of five, each tied by one connection: a shared franchise, a milestone, a birth country, a draft slot. Find all four before your lives run out.

If you came from the word puzzle world, one warning: this NBA connections game runs bigger than the format you know. Groups are five deep instead of four, so there are twenty names to sort and a fifth guy to find for every theme. The easy four come quick. The fifth is where doubt moves in.

Equal parts trivia and logic, and that mix is what makes a basketball connections puzzle sticky. Knowing a player is step one. Knowing which part of his career the board cares about is the game.

How to play NBA Connections, a free online basketball trivia puzzle

Reading the board before you touch anything

Read all 20 names before you touch anything. First instincts are good, first submissions are not.

Selecting five players you believe connect

Tap 5 players you believe share a connection. Tap again to deselect.

What happens when a group locks in

Hit Submit. A correct five locks in, shows its theme, and leaves the board.

What a wrong guess costs you

A wrong five shakes the board and costs one of your 4 lives.

Group colors from easiest to hardest

Group colors run yellow, green, blue, purple, from easiest to hardest.

Clearing all four groups to win

Clear all four groups to win. Run out of lives and the remaining answers are revealed.

NBA Connections rules: groups, lives and the daily puzzle

Board size: four groups of five

Every puzzle is exactly 4 groups of 5 players, 20 names total.

Four lives and the cost of a miss

You have 4 lives, and every wrong submission costs one.

One group per player, never two

Each player belongs to exactly one group in the puzzle. No name ever fits two answers.

Daily puzzle versus unlimited boards

The daily puzzle is identical for everyone, progress saves, and a fresh one lands every day at midnight Eastern. Unlimited deals random boards from the pool.

NBA Connections walkthrough: a Miami Heat group and its imposter

A Miami Heat group hides an imposter

Say the board includes Dwyane Wade, Alonzo Mourning, Udonis Haslem, Chris Bosh and Tim Hardaway. Heat, obviously. Except Hardaway was a point guard with big assist numbers, and you suspect an assists group too. That collision is the whole puzzle.

Counting career assists to settle it

So you count. Hardaway sits comfortably short of 10,000 career assists, while John Stockton, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash all cleared it. Hardaway goes back in the Heat pile, and both groups lock in clean.

Career scorers untangled from a draft group

The last trap is the scorers. Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki and Carmelo Anthony scream career points, and your eye wants Allen Iverson as the fifth. Except Iverson was a number one overall pick, and Yao Ming and Zion Williamson are sitting there looking suspiciously like a draft group. Save Iverson for them, and the real fifth scorer appears by elimination. Lesson learned: verify the fifth name, always.

NBA Connections tips for finding the fifth player every time

Proving the fifth name before you submit

Find the fifth before you submit. Anyone can spot four Lakers. The theme is only proven when a fifth fits.

Reading an overlap as a warning sign

If one player fits two of your working themes, one theme is wrong. Treat the overlap as a compass.

Where star scorers like to hide

Star scorers hide in draft and country groups. Check where a player was born and picked before filing him under points.

Choosing which group to submit first

Start with the group you would bet a life on, whatever its color. Five names off the board makes everything else easier to see.

Down to two groups and unsure? Submit your stronger read. If it hits, the last group solves itself.

NBA Connections FAQ: daily puzzles, lives and player groups

How is this different from other connections games?

Three ways: it is all basketball, groups are five players instead of four, and you get 4 lives. Bigger groups make themes easier to spot but harder to complete.

Is there a one away warning?

No. A wrong submission costs a life even if four of five were right, which is why the fifth name deserves the most thought.

Is everyone solving the same puzzle?

In daily mode, yes, the whole world gets the same 20 players, and progress saves if you leave. Unlimited deals random boards.

What kinds of connections show up?

Franchises, career milestones like 28,000 points or 2,000 threes, birth countries like France or Canada, and draft slots like number one overall. Every grouping is checked against real career data.

Do I need an account to play?

No. An account is optional and only matters if you want saved stats and leaderboards. The daily puzzle itself needs nothing.

Is NBA Connections free to play?

Yes. NBA Connections is free to play on DoUKnowBall, right in your browser. No download and no signup needed.

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