What Are The 6 NBA Divisions? (Ultimate Guide)

Are you confused about the divisions in the NBA?

Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. So, what exactly are the divisions?

The NBA is divided into two conferences: West and East. Each conference has 3 divisions, and each division has 5 teams. For the Western Conference, the divisions are Northwest, Pacific, and Southwest. The Eastern Conference consists of the Atlantic, Central, and Southeast divisions.  

I know this just made things more confusing, which is why you’ll find more answers below. I also made maps that show the teams in each division. You’re welcome.

What are the 6 NBA Divisions?

The NBA is divided into 2 conferences: Western and Eastern. In each conference, there are 3 divisions. Lastly, in each division, there are 5 teams each, adding up to 30 teams.

For your reference, I’ve made this table which quickly shows all the teams and the conferences and divisions they’re a part of.

1. Northwest Division

The Northwest division is one of the three divisions in the Western Conference. This division consists of these teams:

• Denver Nuggets
• Utah Jazz
• Portland Trail Blazers
• Oklahoma City Thunder
• Minnesota Timberwolves

Out of all the divisions in the NBA, the Northwest is the largest in land size. But when you see the teams on a map, the Jazz, Trail Blazers, and Nuggets could technically be part of the Pacific Division.

The Timberwolves are closer to the Central Division, and lastly, the Thunder is technically in the Southwest Division.

But since there are five teams in each division, they separated them equally and adjusted.

2. Pacific Division

They say the Pacific Division is among the toughest teams in the NBA. In today’s NBA, we couldn’t agree more.

Just look at the teams that are part of it:

• Los Angeles Lakers
• Golden State Warriors
• Los Angeles Clippers
• Sacramento Kings
• Phoenix Suns

As a testament to this, they hold the record for most championship titles out of all divisions in the NBA, with 25 as of today. The Los Angeles Lakers alone have 17 titles; next is the Warriors with 7 and Sacramento Kings with 1 title.

Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns haven’t won a championship. But nowadays, they’re title contenders, and they’ve consistently made the playoffs for the past few seasons.

3. Southwest Division

The map shows that the division is located in the South-Central part of the US. But there’s no Southcentral division in the NBA, so it’s called the Southwest Division.

The division was created in the 2004-05 season when the league added the Charlotte Bobcats, now called the Charlotte Hornets.

The teams that are part of this division are:

• Dallas Mavericks
• Memphis Grizzlies
• New Orleans Pelicans
• San Antonio Spurs
• Houston Rockets

Of these teams, the San Antonio Spurs was the most dominant, with 5 championships in 15 years.

4. Atlantic Division

The Atlantic Division holds the record for the division with the second-most championships in history. They have 23 championship titles in total as of today.

Rivaling the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics contributed the most rings with 17. Next is the 76ers with 3 titles, the Knicks with 2, and the Raptors with 1.

The teams that form this division are:

• Boston Celtics
• New York Knicks
• Toronto Raptors
• Brooklyn Nets
• Philadelphia 76ers

Although technically, one of these teams is in Canada (Toronto Raptors), they’re part of the Atlantic Division since they’re geographically closer to these teams.

5. Central Division

The Central Division is part of the Eastern Conference, and they consist of these teams:

• Cleveland Cavaliers
• Milwaukee Bucks
• Chicago Bulls
• Indiana Pacers
• Detroit Pistons

The division was founded in 1970-71 when the league went from 14 to 17 teams. The team leading this division with the most championships is the Chicago Bulls, with 6 titles.

They’re all thanks to Michael Jordan and his squad achieving their historical double three-peat.  

The Milwaukee Bucks were the last to win a championship in this division in 2021.

6. Southeast Division

The Southeast Division is one of the teams in the Eastern Conference. They’re the division with the least number of championships as of this writing, with 4.

The teams that comprise this division are the following:

• Washington Wizards
• Miami Heat
• Atlanta Hawks
• Charlotte Hornets
• Orlando Magic

Why do NBA Divisions Exist?

NBA Divisions were created primarily to categorize teams based on their locations. This means that teams close to each other are in the same division.

The NBA is divided into two conferences which are the Western and Eastern. In each conference, there are three divisions. And in each division, there are five teams.

But aside from these, what were the reasons why they made divisions?

Back when the NBA wasn’t making the same money they do today, they wanted to keep travel costs to a minimum. This also benefited the press and the fans since they didn’t have to spend a lot on travel to watch games.

But since the NBA makes a lot of money now, travel is just a tiny part of their expense.

Lastly, they also wanted to encourage rivalries within divisions. This would’ve increased the interest in games, which would’ve increased their earnings. However, this didn’t become a reality as much as they had hoped.

How to do NBA Divisions Work?

As for the use of divisions, they were initially made so that teams and the media would cut costs on travel and have more rest times. Here’s what each team’s game schedules would look like:

• 4 games against each of the 4 teams in their own division for a total of 16 games.
• 4 games against 6 of the other 10 teams in their conference for a total of 24 games.
• 3 games would be played against the other 4 teams in their conference which would come out to 12 games.
• 2 games against each of the 15 teams in the other conference for a total of 30 games

So, if you count all these, they will total 82 games which is the number of games in a regular season.

Essentially, a team would play 52 games in their conference versus only 30 games against teams in the other conference.

Back then, the top team in each division automatically qualified for the playoffs, no matter how bad their record was.

This was seen as unfair by everyone, so the league made changes. They now only allow teams with the best records to make the playoffs. There would be 8 teams for each conference who would qualify for 16 teams total competing.

But now they also introduced the Play-In Tournament, which essentially lets four teams compete for the final 8th seed.

Should Divisions Still Exist in the NBA?

A lot of people are debating whether divisions are still useful or not today.

The All-Star games have done away with the West vs. East formats and would just change captains for each team every year.

Plus, teams would be divided into two conferences in the playoffs: the West and East. So, the conferences are what’s being used and mentioned a lot rather than the divisions.

This means that divisions are just a relic of the past that the NBA should abolish.

But what’s more interesting is that if you ask the ordinary NBA fan what the NBA divisions are and which teams belong to them, they would have no idea.

That’s because divisions are confusing, and they don’t serve a lot of purposes today.

But if the NBA were to demolish divisions, there are a lot of changes to be made, and frankly, it would also cost a lot. So, for now, they remain.

Final Thoughts

The 6 NBA divisions are the Northwest, Pacific, Southwest, Atlantic, Central, and Southeast. But nowadays, divisions are merely a way to categorize teams geographically.

They don’t serve many purposes, as two conferences already divide the teams. The NBA even use conferences in the playoffs, not divisions, so they’re not needed anymore.

Related Posts:

• NBA Teams In Alphabetical Order (Complete List)
• 11 NBA Teams That Have Never Won A Championship
• Which NBA Player Has Played for the Most Teams?