| 1996 New Zealand NBL season | |
| League: | New Zealand NBL |
| Sport: | Basketball |
| No Of Teams: | 12 |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Minor Premiers: | Auckland |
| Top Scorer: | Ed Book (Palmerston North) |
| Top Scorer Link: | New Zealand NBL Scoring Champion |
| Finals: | Playoffs |
| Finals Champ: | Auckland |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Nelson |
| Seasonslistnames: | New Zealand NBL |
| Prevseason Link: | 1995 New Zealand NBL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1995 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1997 New Zealand NBL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1997 |
The 1996 NBL season was the 15th season of the National Basketball League. Only one change occurred heading into the 1996 season, with Waitakere leaving the NBL for the second-tiered Conference Basketball League (CBL). Auckland won the championship in 1996 to claim their fourth league title.[1] In the best-of-three championship series, Nelson took Game 1 110–95,[2] before Auckland came back to take Game 2 109–98 and Game 3 94–90.[3]
| Team | |
|---|---|
| Auckland | |
| Nelson | |
| 3 | North Harbour |
| 4 | Hawke's Bay |
| 5 | Wellington |
| 6 | Hutt Valley |
| 7 | Otago |
| 8 | Canterbury |
| 9 | Palmerston North |
| 10 | Taranaki |
| 11 | Northland |
| 12 | Waikato |