Going to the playoffs is every NBA team’s goal—except for a few tanking squads. The playoffs are the highest level of NBA basketball and eventually determine the top team in the league as well as the top players.
Not everyone performs well under the bright lights and pressure of the playoffs, but the best players bring their A-Game. It is an exciting time for NBA fans all around the globe.
When do the 2024 NBA Playoffs start?
This season, the postseason kicks off with the play-in tournament from April 16 to 19. The playoffs then start on April 20, leading to the NBA Finals on June 6. For all key dates, click here.
How many rounds and games are in the NBA playoffs?
The NBA Playoffs consist of sixteen teams competing in four rounds. Every round, teams have to survive a best-of-seven series to move on to the next round. This format hasn’t always been the same, though.
The NBA has been sending sixteen teams to the playoffs since 1984, but since 2020, two teams in each conference have to earn their postseason appearance in the play-in tournament.
The pay-in features single-elimination games between the four teams in seventh to tenth place in each conference to decide who will eventually take the seventh and eighth seed in the playoffs.
Likewise, the NBA hasn’t always used the best-of-seven series format in each round. Until 1984, the first round was only a best-of-three series, but as more teams made the playoffs it was extended to best-of-five. In 2003, it became a best-of-seven series as well, finalizing the four-round, best-of-seven format we know.
What is the Sacramento Kings’ best record in the playoffs?
The Kings are not known for their playoff success. Just last season, they ended the longest playoff drought in league history but only made it to Game 7 of the first round.
In the early 2000s, the Kings were a regular in the playoffs, however. In 2002, they made it all the way to the Conference Finals but lost to the Lakers in a series that went all the way to game seven.
That was their best playoff run since 1981 when they lost to the Rockets in the Conference Finals.