NBA Divisions Standings

The National Basketball Association, better known worldwide as the NBA, is a professional basketball league of the United States. It is also the most sought-after basketball league in the world and has a global reach that extends to the far east. Several top players from Europe, Asia, and South America have also joined the NBA and turned it into a truly international spectacle.

Having said that, let us now turn our attention to the topic at hand, the NBA Division Standings.

Introduction

The NBA is a league consisting of 30 teams in all. To understand what the NBA Divisions are and how the NBA Division Standings work, it is essential to first know that the league is divided into the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference.

This is fairly simple as the 15 teams in the east of the United States fall under the Eastern Conference, whereas the remaining teams in central and western parts of the country come under the Western Conference.

Furthermore, in each conference, there are three more subdivisions, which in turn are the NBA Divisions, consisting of five teams each. Divisions in the NBA are made so that teams play the most games against their division opponents, with each team facing every other divisional team 4 times a year.

How do NBA divisions work?

As mentioned earlier, there are three divisions in the Eastern Conference and three divisions in the Western Conference. The Eastern Conference comprises the following divisions:

• Atlantic Division

• Central Division

• Southeast Division

Whereas, the Western Conference has the following divisions:

• Northwest Division

• Pacific Division

• Southwest Division

The divisions in the NBA are also made in such a way that the respective teams do not have to travel very long to play the majority of their games in a hectic 82-game regular season. Considering that teams play around 3-4 games per week, it makes a lot of sense if their travel time is restricted by grouping most of the nearby teams in one group of five.

The current system of three divisions in each conference along with five teams per division came into existence in 2004 after the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets) were added to the league as the 30th team.

In the NBA, the division standings have little importance as all teams that qualify for the postseason do so based on their conference standings. The divisions are made to simplify the scheduling process as each team from their respective divisions plays each other four times (twice at home and twice away) annually.

Therefore, winning as many of the division games as you can effectively gives that team a better chance at being higher in the eventual conference standings.

The NBA divisions are as follows:

Divisions in the Eastern Conference

As we have seen earlier, the three divisions in the Eastern Conference are the Atlantic, Central, and Southeast divisions. Let us take a look at the teams in the respective divisions as well as their brief history.

Atlantic Division NBA

The Atlantic Division of the NBA consists of the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Toronto Raptors. In this division since the 2004-05 NBA season, the Celtics and the Raptors have had the most success winning their division 9 and 7 times respectively, while the other three franchises have struggled mightily in this period.

The Celtics vs the Knicks and the Celtics vs the 76ers are two of the more famous rivalries featuring in the Atlantic Division.

NBA Central Division

In the NBA Central Division, the five teams are the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, and the Milwaukee Bucks. While the Bucks have dominated this division for the past five years, the main tussle has been between the Bucks and the Cavaliers since the realignment of the divisions in 2004.

The Bulls vs the Pistons has been a huge rivalry in this division dating back to the 90s when Michael Jordan led Chicago against the bad boy Pistons featuring Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman, and others.

Southeast Division NBA

The five teams that make up the Southeast Division are the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and the Washington Wizards. This division was created at the start of the 2004-05 season when the NBA realigned the teams.

The Heat have been the team to beat for most of the seasons and have won the Southeast division 12 times thus far as of February 2024. The Magic have had a nice three-year stretch from 2007-09 where they were on top, but other than that the Hawks and the Wizards have won the division just twice and once respectively.

There is no real big rivalry in this division as such, however, the Heat and the Magic go up against each other in the battle for the best team in the state of Florida.

Divisions in Western Conference

Similar to the Eastern Conference, the three divisions in the Western Conference are the Northwest, Pacific, and Southwest. Detailed information on all three divisions is given below.

Northwest Division NBA

The Northwest Division is made up of the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, and the Utah Jazz. This division was also formed in 2004 after the realignment of teams and is thus a newer one.

This division has been quite close in terms of dominance as the Nuggets, Thunder, and Jazz have won the division on multiple occasions. The Timberwolves have yet to come out on top since 2004 while Portland has just won twice over all these years.

NBA Pacific Division

The NBA Pacific Division consists of mostly California-based franchises with the teams being the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and the Sacramento Kings.

Apart from the Kings who just won their division for the first time in the 2022-23 season, all other franchises have had great success since 2004. While there are many rivalries in this division, the most intriguing ones are the Lakers and Clippers - both Los Angeles teams and the Kings and Warriors due to their proximity to each other.

Lately, after the arrival of LeBron James to the Lakers, their rivalry with the Steph Curry-led Warriors has also become one of the hottest ones in the entire NBA.

NBA Southwest Division

Another division created at the start of the 2004-05 season, the NBA Southwest Division features the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, and the San Antonio Spurs.

Despite their last division title coming in the 2016-17 season, the Spurs have dominated this division coming out on top 9 times thus far. The Pelicans have had the least success winning the division just once in 2007-08.

The main rivalry in this division has been the Rockets and the Spurs for many years. However, throw the Mavericks into the mix and you have three teams from the state of Texas going all out for bragging rights.