How many rounds are in the NBA playoffs?

The NBA Playoffs will begin following the conclusion of the regular season in April.

As February nears its end, the stretch run of the 2023-24 NBA season is almost upon us. By now, we're starting to see who's truly in the mix for playoff spots and who will finish the season on the outside looking in.

Over the years, the NBA's playoff structure has undergone several changes. Back in the early days of the NBA, the first round was a best-of-three series as opposed to a best-of-seven series. And when the playoffs first expanded to four rounds, the first round was a best-of-five series.

Today's playoff structure is mostly the same as it's been for the past two decades.

In this piece, we will break down the NBA playoff structure and how many rounds are in the big dance.

NBA Playoff structure and rounds

These days, the top 10 teams per conference reach the playoffs, which amounts to 20 total teams. If a team is seeded 1-6, they will avoid the play-in tournament. There are four total rounds in the standard playoffs, but six if you count the play-in tournament.

The play-in tournament features four teams. Seeds No. 7 and 8 play a one-game playoff to determine the true 7th seed who will advance to play seed No. 2. Seeds No. 9 and 10 also play a one-game playoff. The winner advances to play the loser of the 7-8 game, while the loser of the 9-10 game is eliminated.

In the second round of the play-in tournament, the winner of the final one-game playoff advances to face the top seed in the conference as the true No. 8 seed. Once the play-in tournament is over, the playoffs continue as they had been structured prior to the inception of the play-in tournament.

From here, each round is a best-of-seven series, meaning that a team must win four games before their opponent to advance. While seeds one and two host the eighth and seventh seeds, respectively, seed No. 3 will face seed No. 6, while seed No. 4 will face seed No. 5. The winner of the 4-5 matchup faced the winner of the 1-8 matchup, while the winner of the 3-6 series faces the winner of the 2-7 series.

Once the second round gets underway, there are only eight teams left as opposed to 16 in the first round. The winners of each Conference Semifinals matchup meet in the Conference Finals, with just four total teams remaining, two per conference.

The sixth and final round is the NBA finals. Whoever wins each Conference Finals matchup advances to the finals as the Conference champion. From there, it's the champion of the East versus the champion of the West. The winner of the finals is crowned the NBA champion.

The Denver Nuggets are the defending NBA champions, having defeated the Miami Heat in five games in last year's finals.

Each series is structured as follows. The higher seed hosts the first two games, while the lower seed hosts Games 3 and 4. The series then shifts between venues for the final three games. The higher seed hosts Games 5 and 7 while the lower seed hosts Game 6.