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The NBA season format starts with the Regular season and ends with the finals of the Playoffs. The NBA season is divided into various games throughout the two seasons. No official matches during the summer league and offseason, the players get a break, but still have practice.
NBA season format for the teams or us is simply a filtering process. The NBA consists of a total of 30 teams, 15 from the Eastern and Western Conferences. The filtering process is essential, as only then will they be able to accommodate the teams for the playoffs.
Credits: twitter NBA communication
What is the NBA season format for the Regular season?
The NBA season format begins with a regular season where all the teams from both conferences play 82 games. The first night of the regular season is the opening night. There are 2 Conferences consisting of 15 teams each, each conference has divisions which have their teams.
Teams play 16 games within their division, 24 games (6 teams 4 times) as well as 12 games (4 teams 3 times) against teams outside their division in their conference, and 30 games against the opposing conference. Teams that come in the first 6 positions on the table go directly to the playoffs, and the teams that are at the bottom of the table end their NBA season.
NBA teams who finish between 7th through 10th in each conference participate in “Play-in tournaments”. After the “Play-in tournaments”, 8 teams from each conference qualify to play in the NBA Playoffs.
What is an “In season tournament”?
In the NBA season format, there is a mini-tournament where all 30 teams take part in the “In-season tournament”. The teams play in the group stage, where they play 4 games- 2 home games and 2 away games after which the knockout rounds start. Knockout rounds include quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals.
The teams with the best group play go to the quarterfinals. The team with the best record in group play will be the wild card team. The winner of the in-season game gets the NBA cup and a cash prize (for both the coach and the players)
NBA Playoff Structure
Having understood the NBA season format, we can now understand how the NBA playoff format goes. The NBA playoff season has 4 rounds: The First Round, Conference Semifinals, Conference Finals, and lastly the NBA Finals.
The NBA season format continues with knockouts during the playoffs. In the first round till the conference finals, each conference’s teams play within themselves, and from the 8 teams to 4 teams from each conference advance to the next round. In the conference semifinals as well, they are still competing within their conferences, and then two teams go to the conference finals. After the conference finals, the team that wins gets to the NBA Finals. The winning team is crowned champions. The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers have the most championships.
In the NBA season format, apart from tournaments and constantly playing against each other during the mid-break season, they have an “All-Star Game”. In the All-Star Game, fans, coaches, and the media vote for players, and draft the team by each picking one player at a time. The All-Star game is played as an exhibition game for fun and entertainment.
Breakdown of the NBA season format
- Regular season
- In season-tournament
- All-Start tournament
- End of regular season
- Play-In tournament
- Playoff
- NBA finals
