What is NBA Play-In Tournament?
The NBA play-in tournament is the National Basketball Association’s (NBA’s) first postseason event, which determines the remaining two playoff slots in each conference bracket. It occurs between the last day of the regular season and the start of the playoffs.
The teams that will compete are from the 7–10 spots in each conference’s standings, with the seventh and eighth-place teams will face each other and the winner will advance to the seventh seed.
The ninth and tenth-place teams will face off, and the winner will take on the loser of the seventh and eighth games to determine the eighth seed. The losers of the seventh and eighth matches will play the winners of the ninth and tenth matches or vice versa.
The Play-In Tournament was initially authorised by the NBA Board of Governors in July 2022, and it was first used in the 2020–2021 campaign. The NBA’s postseason “bubble” concept and the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the first play-in game to be played during the 2019–2020 season.
Play-In Original format:
The NBA Board of Governors gave its approval for the first-ever play-in game for the 2019–20 season on June 4, 2020. Included in the NBA’s plans for a bubble as part of its COVID-19 pandemic comeback was the game.
The eight and nine seeds in each conference would square off in a best-of-two play-in match if they were separated by no more than four games. The 8-seed would progress to the playoffs if it won the match. There would be a second game if the 9-seed prevailed. The 9 seed could only go to the playoffs if it won the second game.
Play-In Current format:
The NBA Board of Governors authorised a playoff play-in tournament structure for the 2020–21 season on November 19, 2020, which included the teams who finished seventh through tenth in each conference. The NBA Board of Governors made this arrangement permanent on July 22, 2022.
The structure is comparable to the first two rounds of the Page-McIntyre system for a four-team playoff. In an elimination game, the ninth-place team will host the tenth-place club.
In the double-chance game, the seventh seed hosts the eighth-place club, with the winner advancing as the seventh seed. The loser of this game will host the winner of the elimination game between the ninth and tenth-place teams to determine the eighth seed. The NBA’s regular playoff format resumes as usual.
Only the 2020 season utilised the old play-in game structure. Teams in eighth and ninth place in each conference competed for the last playoff seed in their conference, but only if they finished within four games of each other.
To proceed to the conference playoffs, the lower-ranked team needed to defeat the higher-ranked team twice.
Check out current bracket structure of Play-In in each conference is as follows:
|
Play-In Games |
||
| 7th | Place Team | Home |
| 8th | Place Team | Away |
|
No.8 Seed |
||
| 7/8 | Loser of 7/8 game | Home |
| 9/10 | Winner of 9/10 game | Away |
| 9th | Place Team | Home |
| 10th | Place Team | Away |
|
Final Seeds |
||
| 7/8 | Winner of 7/8 game | No.7 Seed |
| 7/8/9/10 | Winner No.8 seed game | N0.8 Seed |
2024 NBA Play-In Tournament Schedule
When is the NBA Play-In Tournament?
The NBA Play-In Tournament will be start from April 16 to April 19, 2024, just after the regular season ends but just before the start of first round of the playoffs.
|
April 16 |
|
| Play-In Game 1 | East 7 seed vs. East 8 seed |
| Play-In Game 2 | West 7 seed vs. West 8 seed |
|
April 17 |
|
| Play-In Game 3 | East 9 seed vs. East 10 seed |
| Play-In Game 4 | West 9 seed vs. West 10 seed |
|
April 19 |
|
| Play-In Game 5 | Loser of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 3 |
| Play-In Game 6 | Loser of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 4 |
The Teams will be in the NBA Play-In Tournament
As per the current standings in the league table, the following teams would be in the Play-In Tournament if the season ended today:
Eastern Conference:
| 7/8 Game | Miami Heat vs. Philadelphia 76ers |
| 9/10 Game | Chicago Bulls vs. Atlanta Hawks |
The Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic are in fifth and sixth place and could still fall into play-in contention. The Brooklyn Nets are in 11th place in the east and now lost the contention for an NBA Play-In tournament spot.
Western Conference:
|
7/8 Game |
Phoenix Suns vs. Sacramento Kings |
| 9/10 Game | Los Angeles Lakers vs. Golden State Warriors |
The New Orleans Pelicans are in sixth place and could find themselves in the play-in tournament. The Houston Rockets are in 11th place in the west and theoretically, they lost the contention for an NBA Play-In tournament spot.
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