NBA
Do stats in the NBA Play-in count as regular season or playoffs?
The 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament takes place between April 16-17 and will include teams with the 7th through 10th-highest conference winning percentages.
During the short history of the play-in tournaments, we have witnessed some impressive performances of the biggest NBA stars of today. Everybody remembers Lebron’s triple-double, the game-winning 3-pointer, and Tatum’s 50 points from 2021. Or Kyrie Irving scoring his first 12 and Darius Garland matching Irving’s 34 points on the other side on his way to 34 points in the Nets’ win over the Cavaliers in 2022.
We all know how keen the National Basketball Association is in keeping all the stats (player and team) and the clear distinction they make between the regular and playoff season in book-keeping.
2024 NBA Play-In tournament
Western Conference
- 7th vs 8th Game: Los Angeles Lakers vs New Orleans Pelicans - Tuesday, April 16 (7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT)
- 9th vs 10th Game: Golden State Warriors vs Sacramento Kings - Tuesday, April 16 (10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT)
Eastern Conference
- 7th vs 8th : Miami Heat vs Philadelphia 76ers - Wednesday, April 17 (7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT)
- 9th vs 10th Game: Atlanta Hawks vs Chicago Bulls - Wednesday, April 17 (9:30 p.m. ET; / 6:30 p.m. PT)
Everything is crystal clear until we realize that the games played in the play-in tournament and the numbers made during are exempt from the official regular season and playoffs stats.
Play-in stats: do they count?
Because the Play-in tournament is held between the regular season and the playoffs, it cannot be framed in any of these two recognized league periods. Play-In Tournament stats can’t be applied to the regular season because it has already been completed. Still, they aren’t added to postseason computations either because Play-In teams haven’t officially qualified for the NBA Playoffs, which commence as soon as the play-in tournament ends.
Where to find them
If you want to look for the game numbers made during the Play-in tournament, NBA.com offers stats broken down by “Season Type.” Under that filter, numbers can be sorted by preseason, regular season, playoffs, All-Star, and Play-In.. etc.
Although there was a lot of talk in the basketball media that NBA should address this paradox, giving their opinion that the play-in tournament stats should be included in the postseason bracket, as everything done after the season-ending is factually a postseason. The head basketball organization silently defended its statutory decision with a semantic and logical explanation, treating the player and team play-in statistics separately.
The NBA Board of Governors approved the adoption of the NBA Play-In Tournament on 17 November 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was decided to keep the Play-In format on a full-time basis back in July 2022.