NBA conference finals

Overview

Initially, the BAA teams were aligned into the Eastern Division and the Western Division. The Divisional Finals were first played in , the league's third season. The first two seasons used a playoffs format where Eastern and Western Division teams would face each other before the BAA Finals. Hence, there were no divisional finals. In the , the league realigned itself to three divisions, with the addition of the Central Division. However, the arrangement was only used for one season, and the league returned to the two-division format in . The two divisions' format remained until when the NBA realigned itself into two conferences with two divisions each, which led to the renaming to conference finals.

The finals were a best-of-3 series from 1949 to 1950, a best-of-5 series from 1951 to 1956, and a best-of-7 series since 1957. The conference finals are currently played in a best-of-7 series like the NBA playoffs and Finals. The two series are played in late May each year after the first and second rounds of the Playoffs and before the Finals. After the conference finals, winners are presented with a silver trophy, caps, and T-shirts and advance to the NBA Finals.

The Los Angeles Lakers have won the most conference titles with 19. They have also made 24 appearances in the conference finals, more than any other team, which included eight consecutive appearances in the Western Conference finals from 1982 to 1989. The Boston Celtics have won 11 conference championships, the second most of any team. 23 of the 30 active franchises have won at least one conference title. The Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers have each played in at least one conference finals, but have failed to win their respective conference title. Two other franchises, the Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans, have never appeared in the conference finals.

Conference trophies

The NBA first awarded conference championship trophies in 2001. In 2022, both were redesigned, and named the Bob Cousy Trophy for the Eastern Conference and the Oscar Robertson Trophy for the Western Conference, in honor of two men who were instrumental in developing and advancing the players' labor union, the National Basketball Players Association. The two redesigned trophies each feature a silver basketball with its respective conference finals logo on the underside. The trophies also have a slightly different base for each conference to help distinguish one from the other; the silver basketball on the Eastern Conference trophy sits on three pegs, while the Western Conference trophy has the basketball on intercrossing circular rings. The silver basketball is quartered into four sections, representing the winning team first qualifying for the playoffs and then advancing through the three playoff rounds. In that same year, the NBA began awarding conference finals MVPs to the best-performing player of each conference finals.

Key

Conference

Eastern Conference Finals

Western Conference Finals

Results by team

Stats updated through June 1, 2025

Total number of appearances

Years of appearance

In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of appearances, then by number of wins, and finally by year of first appearance. In the "Season(s)" column, bold years indicate winning conference finals appearances.

Notes

References

References

1. Goldaper, Sam. "The First Game". NBA Media Ventures (NBA.com).
2. "1949–50 Season Overview: Powerful Lakers Repeat". NBA Media Ventures (NBA.com).
3. Feldman, Dan. (May 12, 2022). "NBA to name conference finals MVPs". NBC Sports.
4. (May 12, 2022). "NBA redesigns Finals trophy, adds awards named after Magic Johnson, Larry Bird". Washington Post.
5. "NBA introduces new lineup of postseason hardware". Turner Sports Interactive, Inc.