Sixteen teams, four rounds, and a play-in tournament that decides the last four spots: the NBA playoff bracket is simpler than it looks once you know the seeding rules. Here is the whole system in five questions.
Who makes the playoffs?
Each conference sends eight teams. Seeds 1 through 6 qualify directly by regular-season record. Seeds 7 and 8 are decided by the play-in tournament among the teams that finish 7th through 10th — so finishing 10th still keeps a season alive, and finishing 7th guarantees nothing.
How does the play-in work?
It is a compact, three-game format in each conference. The 7th and 8th place teams play once: the winner takes the No. 7 seed. The 9th and 10th place teams play an elimination game. The loser of the 7-8 game then hosts the winner of the 9-10 game for the No. 8 seed. Two losses and you are out; the 7-8 winner is the only team that books a spot with one win.
How is the bracket built?
Standard seeding: 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6, 4 plays 5 in each conference. The bracket is fixed — there is no reseeding after the first round, so the 1-seed’s path runs through the 4/5 winner, never the lowest remaining seed. Every round is a best-of-seven, with home-court advantage going to the higher seed in a 2-2-1-1-1 format.
When do the conferences meet?
Only in the Finals. East and West brackets run in parallel through the conference finals, and the two champions meet in June. Home-court in the Finals goes to the team with the better regular-season record, regardless of conference or seed — which is how a 2-seed can open a Finals at home against a 1-seed.
Does the lower seed ever have the edge?
More often than the bracket suggests. Because there is no reseeding, an upset in the 4/5 series hands the winner a conference-semifinal matchup against the 1-seed — while the 2-seed and 3-seed sides of the bracket can soften dramatically. Efficiency metrics tend to predict series outcomes better than seeding does: a team with elite net rating and a mediocre seed is the classic “nobody wants to face them” profile. The full bracket and results live at NBA.com.
This year’s bracket produced a 2-seed champion in the West and a Finals that has delivered three one-possession games — proof that once the field narrows, seeds are just numbers.
