Fansided

How many teams make the NBA Play-In Tournament?

As NBA teams continue their playoff push, there are some teams trying to make the Play-In Tournament. Here is the number of teams that have a shot to earn their way in.

By Nicholas Chiarito

New York Knicks v Atlanta Hawks
New York Knicks v Atlanta Hawks / Kevin C. Cox/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit

The NBA Play-In tournament was first introduced during the 2019-20 season because of the Covid-19 pandemic. After that, it evolved to a specific format for the 2020-21 season and has stayed the same since then.

The Play-In Tournament has proved to be a very important factor for the playoffs. For example, in 2021, the Warriors had a record of 39-33 and were the eighth seed while the Grizzles had a record of 38-34 and were the ninth seed. Originally, the Grizzlies wouldn't have made the playoffs but because of the Play-In, they made their way in.

The NBA playoffs still have 16 teams, as it has been since 1984. The Play-In is used to decide who will be the No. 7 and No. 8 seed in both conferences.

NBA Play-In Tournament: How many teams get in?

When the Play-In was first introduced in the 2019-20 season there were originally two teams. The way that it worked then was that the eighth and ninth seed had to be within four games of each other to be a game played. This resulted in only the Western Conference having a Play-In tournament.

Then before the start of the 2020-21 season, the NBA changed the Play-In tournament to where the seventh, eighth, ninth, and 10th seed from both conferences make the Play-In. The way it works is the seventh and eighth seeds play a game to compete for the seventh seed in the playoffs. The ninth and 10th seed play a game and the winner of that game competes against the loser of the seventh vs. eighth seed to be the eighth seed in the playoffs.

This results in the NBA Play-In tournament having four teams from each conference to compete and having a total of eight teams in the tournament. In a way, this expands the playoffs from a 16-game format to a 20-game format.

The Play-In is not the NBA playoffs as the stats from those games don't count towards someone's postseason stats.

At the time, it seemed questionable to have but now it has shown its worth. It gives teams an opportunity to make and earn the right to play in the playoffs when they originally couldn't have. Just now, the Warriors are the tenth seed in the West at a 34-30 record and just 2.5 games behind the eighth seed. If the Play-In didn't exist, they may not make the playoffs despite having a similar record.

The NBA Play-In is going to there for the rest of NBA History. As time has goes on, there will be more and more teams that are legit playoff teams. The more that teams get snubbed, the larger the possibility of the NBA expanding the league, playoffs, and Play-In tournament.

Home/NBA Playoffs