How many games are in the NBA Playoffs? Explaining the history of the NBA postseason

With the 2024 NBA Playoffs set to have one of the most stacked fields of all time, here’s a look at how the format of the postseason has evolved over the years. 

The 2024 NBA Playoffs will have a similar format to the last four years: Seeds 7-10 of each conference will battle it out for the last four spots of the postseason in an elimination Play-In Tournament followed by four rounds of best-of-seven series.

In the Play-In Tournament, the seventh and eighth seeds from the regular season face off against each other with the winner taking the seventh seed in the playoffs. The loser of this game gets another chance by hosting the winner of the single-elimination ninth vs 10th seed game (with the winner getting the eighth seed for the playoffs).

How did the NBA Play-In Tournament start?

The Play-In Tournament was largely influenced by the NBA’s first-ever play-in game in 2020. With the 2019-20 season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA introduced a play-in game in case the respective eighth and ninth seeds of either conference were separated by four games or fewer. The eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies and ninth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers met in the first-ever play-in game with the Blazers winning the close encounter in the bubble. The tournament was expanded to four teams per conference from the following season with the records of the seventh- to 10th-seeded teams not playing a role in qualification.

While the Play-In Tournament is a relatively new addition, the best-of-seven series has played a role in the NBA postseason since the league’s inception. In the first season in league history of what was then called the BAA, Basketball Association of America, a total of 11 teams took part with three teams each from two divisions making the post-season. The divisions would directly qualify for the semifinals and play a seven-game series while the second and third seeds of each division would play each other in the quarterfinals in a best-of-three series with the winners of the two games playing a best-of-three semifinal series. The season would culminate with the best-of-seven Finals series. 

This format would only remain for two seasons after which four teams would qualify per division from an expanded league with best of three series taking place until the NBA Finals. 

In 1971, conferences replaced divisions however divisions still played a key role in seeding with two teams qualifying from each division and seeding being based on division ranking. By this point, there were 17 teams in the league with best-of-seven series taking place in all three rounds of the playoffs. 

In 1975, another best-of-three round was added to the playoffs. Initially, this was used for a four-seed vs five-seed matchup however more teams were added to the mix with the league introducing byes for the top-ranked seeds from each conference.

The 1984 postseason would resemble a postseason close to what’s seen today with four playoff rounds. The first-round series would be up to five games while the remaining post-season would be played in the best-of-seven format. In 2003, the first round best-of-five series would be changed to a best-of-seven series.

Division-based playoff seeding would be gradually phased out. A division winner would initially be guaranteed a top-two spot which would change to a top-three spot with the addition of a third division in 2004. For 2006-07, this would change to a guaranteed top-four spot, and by 2016, division winners would no longer have any additional advantages.

Besides the Play-In Tournament component, the playoffs format has remained the same since 2016 with four best-of-seven playoff series rounds exclusively determined by conference rankings.