NBA Playoff Bracket 2026-27

Sixteen clubs reach the playoffs, eight from each conference, and the bracket is fixed rather than reseeded: 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6 and 4 plays 5, and the halves stay together all the way to the conference final. That is why the later rounds can be drawn before a game is played — the 1/8 winner meets the 4/5 winner whoever those turn out to be.

Only 6 of the eight places are settled by record. Seeds 7 through 10 go to the play-in tournament: 7 hosts 8 and the winner takes the seventh seed; 9 hosts 10 and the loser is out; the loser of 7-v-8 then plays the winner of 9-v-10 for the eighth. So the two bottom slots in each half wait on a tournament, and the bracket names the rule there rather than a club.

Every series is best of seven. Within a conference the higher seed holds home court; the Finals is the exception, where it goes to whichever champion had the better regular-season record — the two came through different conferences, so their seed numbers are not comparable and a 3 seed can host a 1 seed. There is no single-elimination round anywhere in the playoffs proper: the play-in games are the only one-off games in the postseason.

This bracket is projected. The league has not published a final seeding for the season shown, so the pairings are what today’s standings imply and they change as clubs do — a club moving one place can change who it would meet in the first round and which half of the bracket it lands in.

The title board lists every club Kalshi prices to win the championship, best price first. A contract pays 100¢ if the club wins the Finals, so its price in cents reads directly as the market's implied chance in percent. 30 clubs are priced.