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2024 NBA Play-in tournament format explained: games, teams, seeding...

In just under a month, the NBA Play-In Tournament will be upon us, but how does it work and what teams are involved? Let’s take a closer look at the details.

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Update: Mar 18th, 2024 08:06 EDT

The 2024 SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament will include teams with the 7th through 10th-highest winning percentages in each conference, as they battle for a spot in the NBA Playoffs. The tournament is set to take place between April 16th and 19th.

What is the Play-In Tournament?

In simple form, the SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament will determine the teams that secure the seventh and eighth playoff seeds in each conference for the 2024 NBA playoffs.

Ok, when is the Play-In Tournament?

The Play-In Tournament will take place Tuesday, April 16th – Friday, April 19th, with the games played after the regular season concludes and before the first round of the NBA playoffs commences.

How does the Play-In Tournament work?

As you likely already know, the teams that finish Nos. 1-6 in the standings of each conference are guaranteed a playoff spot, however, those that finish Nos. 7-10 in the standings will enter the Play-In Tournament. These teams will then duke it out for the seventh and eighth playoff seeds.

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32 days from the #SoFiPlayIn.

36 days from the #NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel. pic.twitter.com/iD8M84t7qS
— NBA (@NBA) March 15, 2024

What exactly does that look like?:

On Tuesday, April 16th, each conference’s No. 7 team in the standings plays host to the No. 8 team. The winners of those games secure the No. 7 seed in the playoffs, while the losers are granted one last opportunity to book their ticket to the postseason on April 19th.

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How so? On Wednesday, April 17th, the No. 9 seed from each conference hosts the No. 10 seed, with the winners advancing to the final stage of the tournament and the losers going home. Then, on Friday, April 19th, the aforementioned losers of the No. 7 vs No. 8 games with face the winners of the No. 9 vs No. 10 games. Logically the winner of that game secures the No. 8 seed in the NBA playoffs for its conference and the loser is out.

Which teams will be in the Play-In Tournament?

While it’s almost certain that things will change during the next month, were the regular season to end after March 17th, this is what the Play-In Tournament would look like in both conferences:

Western Confernce	Eastern Conference
(7) Mavericks vs. (8) Suns	(7) Heat vs. (8) 76ers
(9) Warriors vs. (10) Lakers	(9) Bulls vs. (10) Hawks