How the NBA Works
How the NBA works explained simply: the division into Conferences and Divisions, and how the schedule and standings function
American basketball, since its inception, has adopted a very particular ranking system: for example, in various soccer leagues, points are awarded based on the results obtained (3 points for a win and 1 for a draw), generating a final ranking. This is not the case in the NBA.Americans have adopted their own ranking based on some fundamental elements such as winning percentage and games back.
Here’s a simple and quick guide to understand how the NBA works without having to read long pages of explanations, focusing on the Regular Season.
Division and Conference
The NBA league is divided into two Conferences based on geography: we have the Western Conference, which includes teams from the western part of the country, and the Eastern Conference, which includes franchises from the eastern United States.The only franchise outside of the United States, after the Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001, is the Toronto Raptors, a Canadian team that has been part of the Eastern Conference since 1995, the year of the “Dinos” foundation.
Additionally, each Conference is further divided into three Divisions, each containing 5 teams, divided as follows:
Western Conference
| Northwest Division | Southwest Division | Pacific Division |
|---|---|---|
| Utah Jazz | San Antonio Spurs | Phoenix Suns |
| Portland Trail Blazers | Memphis Grizzlies | Los Angeles Lakers |
| Denver Nuggets | Dallas Mavericks | Los Angeles Clippers |
| Oklahoma City Thunder | New Orleans Pelicans | Golden State Warriors |
| Minnesota Timberwolves | Houston Rockets | Sacramento Kings |
Eastern Conference
| Atlantic Division | Central Division | Southeast Division |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia 76ers | Milwaukee Bucks | Miami Heat |
| Brooklyn Nets | Indiana Pacers | Charlotte Hornets |
| Boston Celtics | Chicago Bulls | Atlanta Hawks |
| New York Knicks | Cleveland Cavaliers | Washington Wizards |
| Toronto Raptors | Detroit Pistons | Orlando Magic |
How the NBA Schedule Works
The NBA schedule is divided into 3 phases: Regular Season, Playoffs, and Finals.During the Regular Season, each of the 30 teams plays a total of 82 games:
- 4 games against each of the other 4 teams in their division (16 total games);
- 3 or 4 games against each of the other 10 teams in their conference (36 total games);
- 2 games against teams from the other conference (30 total games).
At the end of the Regular Season, we enter the second part of the season: the Playoffs and NBA Finals. In this phase, the top 8 teams from each conference (including results from the play-in tournament) are arranged in a bracket based on their standings during the Regular Season to compete for the NBA Championship.
How NBA Standings Work
The NBA standings during the Regular Season are not based on points earned by each franchise (as in soccer or LBA) but on each team’s winning percentages, which determine specific placements within the standings.
This percentage, or winning percentage (PCT), is obtained through a simple mathematical operation: you multiply a team’s number of wins by one hundred and then divide by total games played (the sum of wins and losses up to that point) to get this percentage.Moreover, when observing any NBA standings table, you will see many columns, each corresponding to a specific index. Let’s look at some of the most important ones:
Games Back (GB)
Games Back represents the number of wins behind a team compared to the first-place team in their respective conference.
Wins and Losses
Represented by two letters, W for Wins and L for Losses, they indicate each franchise’s victories and defeats during the regular season.
Home and Road
This index refers to games played at home and on the road.
Conf and Div
The two indices, Conference and Division, represent results that each franchise has obtained against respective teams in their Conference and Division.
Streak and L10
The first index represents a franchise’s current winning or losing streak: it consists of a letter (W for wins, L for losses) followed by a number representing consecutive repetitions of that same result.The second index, L10, stands for Last-10, indicating a team’s results over their last 10 games.