How many rounds are in the NBA playoffs?

The NBA Playoffs are one of the most exciting times of the year, and they'll be here before we know it.

While we have a good idea of who the contenders are, several spots are still up for grabs as we enter the stretch run of the 2023-24 NBA season.

As soon as the regular season ends, the play-in tournament will commence before the field of teams is down to 16 and the playoffs are ready to begin.

How many rounds are in the NBA Playoffs?

If you're a hard-core NBA fan, this will be a no-brainer for you.

However, it all depends on if you count the play-in tournament as part of the playoffs.

Before the inception of the play-in tournament during the height of the pandemic, the playoffs featured four rounds. Each round was, and still is a best-of-seven series. It starts with the Conference Quarterfinals when eight teams are remaining per conference and 16 in total. Once the winners are determined, the field will shrink to eight teams for the Conference Semifinals, four for the Conference Finals, and just two for the NBA Finals.

The play-in tournament works as follows.

The teams with the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth best records in their conference meet for a brief tournament to determine the final two seeds. This tournament is two rounds.

Seeds seven and eight play a one-game playoff to determine who earns the official seventh seed in the conference. Seeds nine and ten also play each other in a one-game playoff. The loser of that matchup is eliminated, while the winner of that matchup advances to play to loser of the 7-8 game, which will determine the official eighth seed.

So, depending on how you look at it, you could make the case that there are actually six rounds in the playoffs. Once the play-in tournament is complete, the playoffs continue as they were prior to the inception of the play-in rounds.

In the early days of the NBA, there were only two rounds, with the first round leading up to the NBA Finals being a best-of-three series.

As time passed and the league expanded, the format and number of teams eligible to make the playoffs changed. It began as an eight-team format but switched to 12 teams in 1950. The 16-team format was introduced in the 1983-84 season.