The NBA Play-in tournament explained: Number of teams, games, who qualifies for the playoffs...

The 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament is fast approaching which means soon we will have a series of games to determine who the final seeds in the NBA playoffs will be. Let’s take a look at how that breaks down.

The tournament, which takes place April 16th-19th, 2024, will determine the teams that fill the seventh and eighth playoff seeds in each conference for the 2024 NBA Playoffs. This means that four teams in each conference will compete in the Play-In Tournament. The participating teams will have the seventh-highest through the 10th-highest winning percentages in each conference. There will be six games- three games in each conference.

How can teams in the Play-In Tournament earn a spot in the NBA Playoffs?

Since 2021, the final two playoff spots in each conference have been decided by a play-in tournament. The teams with the seventh-highest and eighth-highest winning percentages in each conference will have two opportunities to win one game to earn a spot in the playoffs, which start April 20th and conclude June 23rd. The ones with the ninth-highest and 10th-highest winning percentages in each conference must win two consecutive games to earn a playoff spot.

The Play-In Tournament structure

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. With that in mind, it’s each conference’s No. 7 team that starts things off by hosting the No. 8. The winners of those games then secure the 7th seed, while the losers are granted one last opportunity to book their ticket to the postseason on April 20th.

Of course what comes first is the No. 9 seed from each conference hosting the No. 10 seed, with the winners advancing to the final stage of the tournament and the losers going home. Then, finally, the aforementioned losers of the No. 7 vs No. 8 games face off against 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.

As for who is in the Play-In tournament this year, that remains to be determined with a few teams still in with a shot at qualifying - you can see that above - but if the NBA season were to have ended last night - April 11th - this is what it would look like: