We took all 36 play-in games from 2021 to 2026 from NBA.com's game logs, placed every team by its regular-season finish and followed each qualifier through the playoffs.
How the NBA play-in tournament works
The top six teams in each conference go straight to the first round. The teams that finish seventh to 10th play for the last two places, and the NBA Board of Governors made the format permanent on July 12, 2022, after one-year approvals for 2020-21 and 2021-22. In each conference:
- Seventh hosts eighth. The winner becomes the No. 7 seed and plays the No. 2 seed in the first round.
- Ninth hosts 10th. The loser is out.
- The loser of seventh against eighth hosts the winner of ninth against 10th. The winner is the No. 8 seed and plays the No. 1 seed; the loser is out.
Seventh and eighth need one win in two tries; ninth and 10th need two in a row, the second on the road. In the 2020 bubble, a play-in was held only if ninth finished within four games of eighth, and eighth needed one win against two for ninth. Only the West qualified: on Aug. 15, 2020, the Portland Trail Blazers, 35-39, beat the Memphis Grizzlies 126-122, then lost 4-1 to the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers.
NBA play-in results by seed
The double chance matters more than anything else in the bracket. Seventh place won the first game 9 times in 12, and the three that lost it, the 2023 Heat, the 2024 New Orleans Pelicans and the 2026 Phoenix Suns, all won the second game at home. Eighth place won the first game only 3 times in 12 but reached the playoffs 8 times, 67 percent.
| Regular-season place | First game | No. 8 seed game | Became No. 7 | Became No. 8 | Eliminated | Made playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7th place | 9-3 | 3-0 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 12 of 12 |
| 8th place | 3-9 | 5-4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 8 of 12 |
| 9th place | 7-5 | 3-4 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 3 of 12 |
| 10th place | 5-7 | 1-4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 1 of 12 |
Home teams won 24 of the 36 games, 67 percent. Ninth beat 10th 7 times in 12, but the winner then had to win on the road, which happened only 4 times in 12. The Heat have played the most play-in games, seven from 2023 to 2026, and won the most, four.
Can a 9th or 10th seed make the NBA playoffs?
Yes, four times in 24 tries, 17 percent, and three of the four came in the first two seasons. None of them won a playoff series:
- 2021 Memphis Grizzlies, ninth at 38-34: beat the San Antonio Spurs and the Golden State Warriors, then lost 4-1 to the top-seeded Utah Jazz.
- 2022 Atlanta Hawks, ninth at 43-39: beat the Charlotte Hornets and the Cleveland Cavaliers, then lost 4-1 to the Heat.
- 2022 New Orleans Pelicans, ninth at 36-46: beat the Spurs and the LA Clippers, then lost 4-2 to the Phoenix Suns.
- 2025 Miami Heat, 10th at 37-45: won 109-90 at the Chicago Bulls and 123-114 at the Hawks, then were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The 2022 Pelicans have the worst record of any play-in qualifier; with the 2021 Washington Wizards, 34-38, and the 2025 Heat they are the three teams since 2021 to get in with a losing record. For the records it takes, see how many wins reach the play-in.
Play-in teams in the first round: upsets of the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds
The 24 play-in qualifiers from 2021 to 2026 won 4 first-round series, 17 percent, and 38 of 127 games. Six of them won Game 1, as our study of Game 1 winners notes, and five were swept. The four that advanced:
- 2023 Miami Heat, No. 8: lost their first play-in game at home to the Hawks, beat the Bulls 102-91, then beat the 58-24 Milwaukee Bucks 4-1, the New York Knicks 4-2 and the Boston Celtics 4-3, and lost the Finals 4-1 to the Denver Nuggets.
- 2023 Los Angeles Lakers, No. 7: beat the Memphis Grizzlies 4-2 and the Golden State Warriors 4-2, then were swept by Denver in the Western Conference finals.
- 2025 Golden State Warriors, No. 7: beat the Houston Rockets in seven games, then lost 4-1 to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
- 2026 Philadelphia 76ers, No. 7: came back from 3-1 down to beat the Celtics in seven, then were swept by the Knicks.
The Heat are the only play-in team to reach the Finals, and none has won the title. Their win over Milwaukee is the only upset of a No. 1 seed in 12 tries; No. 7 seeds went 3 of 12 against No. 2s. Twelve series a side is a small sample, but it beats the old seventh and eighth seeds: from 2003 to 2019, with a best-of-seven first round and no play-in, they won 4 of 68 first-round series, 6 percent, and none got past the second round.
The four upsets from 2003 to 2019 were by the 2007 Warriors over the No. 1 Dallas Mavericks, the 2010 Spurs as a No. 7 over Dallas, the 2011 Grizzlies over the No. 1 Spurs and the 2012 76ers over the No. 1 Bulls.
Every play-in team in the NBA playoffs
| Year | Team | Place, seed | First round | Went out in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Trail Blazers 35-39 | 8th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 Lakers 4-1 | First round |
| 2021 | Celtics 36-36 | 7th, No. 7 | Lost to No. 2 Nets 4-1 | First round |
| 2021 | Wizards 34-38 | 8th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 76ers 4-1 | First round |
| 2021 | Lakers 42-30 | 7th, No. 7 | Lost to No. 2 Suns 4-2 | First round |
| 2021 | Grizzlies 38-34 | 9th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 Jazz 4-1 | First round |
| 2022 | Nets 44-38 | 7th, No. 7 | Lost to No. 2 Celtics 4-0 | First round |
| 2022 | Hawks 43-39 | 9th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 Heat 4-1 | First round |
| 2022 | Timberwolves 46-36 | 7th, No. 7 | Lost to No. 2 Grizzlies 4-2 | First round |
| 2022 | Pelicans 36-46 | 9th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 Suns 4-2 | First round |
| 2023 | Heat 44-38 | 7th, No. 8 | Beat No. 1 Bucks 4-1 | Finals |
| 2023 | Hawks 41-41 | 8th, No. 7 | Lost to No. 2 Celtics 4-2 | First round |
| 2023 | Lakers 43-39 | 7th, No. 7 | Beat No. 2 Grizzlies 4-2 | Conference finals |
| 2023 | Timberwolves 42-40 | 8th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 Nuggets 4-1 | First round |
| 2024 | 76ers 47-35 | 7th, No. 7 | Lost to No. 2 Knicks 4-2 | First round |
| 2024 | Heat 46-36 | 8th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 Celtics 4-1 | First round |
| 2024 | Pelicans 49-33 | 7th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 Thunder 4-0 | First round |
| 2024 | Lakers 47-35 | 8th, No. 7 | Lost to No. 2 Nuggets 4-1 | First round |
| 2025 | Magic 41-41 | 7th, No. 7 | Lost to No. 2 Celtics 4-1 | First round |
| 2025 | Heat 37-45 | 10th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 Cavaliers 4-0 | First round |
| 2025 | Warriors 48-34 | 7th, No. 7 | Beat No. 2 Rockets 4-3 | Second round |
| 2025 | Grizzlies 48-34 | 8th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 Thunder 4-0 | First round |
| 2026 | 76ers 45-37 | 7th, No. 7 | Beat No. 2 Celtics 4-3 | Second round |
| 2026 | Magic 45-37 | 8th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 Pistons 4-3 | First round |
| 2026 | Suns 45-37 | 7th, No. 8 | Lost to No. 1 Thunder 4-0 | First round |
| 2026 | Trail Blazers 42-40 | 8th, No. 7 | Lost to No. 2 Spurs 4-1 | First round |
The 2026 play-in and the 2026-27 format
In the East in April 2026, the 76ers beat the Orlando Magic 109-97 for seventh, the Hornets beat the Heat 127-126 in overtime, and the Magic beat Charlotte 121-90 for eighth. In the West, the Trail Blazers won 114-110 at Phoenix for seventh, the Warriors won 126-121 at the Clippers, and the Suns beat Golden State 111-96 for eighth.
The 76ers then beat Boston, the Magic led the top-seeded Detroit Pistons 3-1 before losing in seven, the Suns were swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder and Portland lost 4-1 to the Spurs. The Knicks, who swept Philadelphia in the second round, won the title; the best regular-season record has won it 45 percent of the time since 1979-80.
The play-in format is unchanged for 2026-27, and the regular season runs from Oct. 20, 2026, to April 11, 2027. What changes is the draft, under the 3-2-1 lottery the Board of Governors approved on May 28 for 2027 to 2029:
- Teams that miss both the playoffs and the play-in get three lottery balls each; the three worst records are draft relegated and get two.
- The ninth and 10th play-in seeds in each conference get two balls each.
- The losers of the seventh-against-eighth games get one ball each, and the lottery grows from 14 to 16 teams.
Until 2026 lottery odds depended only on the record; now ninth or 10th means fewer balls than missing the postseason. Our look at the draft lottery has the odds, the NBA schedule lists every 2026-27 game, and the NBA simulator plays out the season to show who lands seventh to 10th.
NBA play-in tournament: frequently asked questions
How does the NBA play-in tournament work? Seventh hosts eighth and the winner is the No. 7 seed. Ninth hosts 10th and the loser is out. The loser of seventh against eighth then hosts the winner of ninth against 10th for the No. 8 seed.
Has a 10th seed ever made the NBA playoffs? Once, the 2025 Miami Heat, who won at Chicago and at Atlanta and were then swept by Cleveland.
Has a play-in team ever won the NBA title? No. The 2023 Miami Heat went furthest, beating the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks on the way to the Finals, which they lost 4-1 to Denver.
How often does the No. 7 seed win the play-in? Seventh place has won its first play-in game 9 times in 12 since 2021 and reached the playoffs every time, 12 of 12.
How this was built: every play-in game from 2021 to 2026 and every playoff game from 2003 to 2026 comes from NBA.com's official game logs, with records and places from NBA.com's final standings. Play-in places are read from each bracket: the host of the game whose loser plays again is seventh, the host of the game whose winner plays again is ninth. The 2020 bubble game comes from Wikipedia; format rules from NBA Communications. Seasons 2020-21 to 2025-26.