2023 NBA Playoffs Format

The road to an NBA title begins in the playoffs, where 16 out of the 30 teams will battle starting on April 15, 2023. Higher-seeded teams may have better basketball odds than their lower-seeded counterparts due to home-court advantage, but underdogs use it to reverse engineer the NBA odds stacked against them.

These unpredictable outcomes and endless narratives have made the NBA more exciting for fans. But what is the format of the NBA Playoffs? How does the seeding work? How can teams advance to the next round? And how does the Play-In Tournament affect the chances of other lower-seeded teams?

2023 NBA Playoffs Format

The NBA Playoffs showcase the eight teams in each conference (West and East) with the best record after the 82-game regular season. These eight teams will be bracketed accordingly, with the 1st seed facing the 8th seed, the 2nd seed facing the 7th seed, the 3rd seed facing the 6th seed and the 4th seed facing the 5th seed.

Each pairing will play a seven-game series, with the first team to win four games advancing to the next round until they reach the NBA Finals, where the Western Conference Champions and Eastern Conference Champions battle to determine the league’s champion.

During the 2020-21 NBA season, the Play-In Tournament was introduced as two more lower-seeded teams in each conference, particularly the teams who finished 9th and 10th after the regular season, will have an opportunity to enter the playoffs if they win the said tournament.

NBA Play-In Tournament

The NBA Play-In Tournament commences after the regular season and before the playoffs begin. This tournament features a game between the 9th and 10th-seeded teams and the 7th and 8th-seeded teams. The play-in tournament format follows the structure: