- The NBA playoffs start on April 19.
- The NBA playoff format for 2025 features four best-of-seven rounds.
- The SoFi Play-In Tournament is from April 15 to April 18.
The NBA playoffs are a prime time for teams with the best NBA championship odds to showcase how well their teams are built, but they are also an opportunity for me to test my basketball acumen when I bet online.
Teams with the shortest championship basketball betting odds aren’t guaranteed to win each series, but the playoffs are a golden opportunity for legends to be born.
With that said, when do the NBA playoffs start in 2025? Let’s find out.
When Do the NBA Playoffs Start?
The NBA playoffs start on April 19.
The SoFi Play-In Tournament is from April 15 to April 18.
What Is the NBA Playoff Format for 2025?
The NBA playoff format for 2025 features four best-of-seven rounds.
The first round features 16 teams, eight in the Eastern Conference and eight in the Western Conference.
The teams that finished with the six best regular-season records are the first six seeds in each conference. The conference’s final two seeds are the winners of the play-in tournament.
The teams that finished with the seventh- and eighth-best records in each conference battle for the seventh seed. The teams that finished with the ninth- and 10th-best records face off, and the winner of that game plays the loser of the 7/8 matchup to determine the conference’s final playoff spot.
The first seed faces the eighth, the second meets the seventh, the third takes on the sixth, and the fourth competes against the fifth.
The winner of the first- and eighth-seed matchup faces the winner of the fourth- and fifth-seed matchup, while the winner of the third- and sixth-seed matchup takes on the winner of the second- and seventh-seed matchup in the conference semifinals.
The winners of each matchup advance to the conference finals, where they compete for a spot in the NBA Finals. The conference champions then face off to determine the NBA champion.
What Time of Year Are the NBA Playoffs?
The time of year for the NBA playoffs is the spring and ends just before the official start of summer in June.
What Month Do the NBA Playoffs Start?
The month the NBA playoffs start in April.