Atlantic Division (NBA)

• 1. Introduction

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  Five teams make up the National Basketball Association's Atlantic Division, and four of them share a coastline. The Boston Celtics, the Brooklyn Nets, the New York Knicks, and the Philadelphia 76ers all sit on the East Coast of the United States. The fifth, the Toronto Raptors, plays across the border in Ontario. Despite the distance, Toronto's sports teams have long carried rivalries with Northeastern American cities. Toronto shares divisions with Boston and New York clubs in both Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League too. That mismatch of geography and rivalry sits at the center of this division's story. How did a group defined by coastline end up with a Canadian club? And how much has this lineup actually shifted since the league first drew these lines? There is also the matter of dominance within the group. One franchise has separated itself from the rest for decades. And since the 2021-22 season, the division's champion has carried home a trophy with its own history behind it.

• 2. Realignment And Origins

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  In 1970, the NBA expanded from 14 to 17 teams, adding the Buffalo Braves, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Portland Trail Blazers. The league split itself into two conferences, the Western and the Eastern, with two divisions inside each. Four teams made up the new Atlantic Division at the start of the 1970-71 season. They were the Boston Celtics, the Buffalo Braves, the New York Knicks, and the Philadelphia 76ers. Of those four, only the Braves arrived as a brand-new franchise. The Celtics, the Knicks, and the 76ers all transferred over from the league's existing Eastern Division. Buffalo's path through the league would prove far less settled than the other three.

• 3. A Revolving Door

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  In 1976, an American Basketball Association team that had merged into the NBA, the New York Nets, joined the Atlantic Division. A year later, that franchise relocated and became the New Jersey Nets. The turnover continued elsewhere too. In 1978, the Washington Bullets arrived from the Central Division. That same year, the Buffalo Braves left for the Pacific Division after relocating to become the San Diego Clippers. That franchise is now known as the Los Angeles Clippers. The Charlotte Hornets joined as an expansion team in 1988 but stayed only one season. They moved first to the Midwest Division and then permanently to the Central Division. In 1989, the Miami Heat arrived from the Midwest Division, and the Orlando Magic followed in 1991 from the same division. The Washington Bullets were renamed the Washington Wizards in 1997. Then in 2004, the Toronto Raptors joined the Atlantic Division from the Central Division. That same year, the Miami Heat, the Orlando Magic, and the Washington Wizards all departed together for the Southeast Division. The New Jersey Nets made one more move of their own, relocating to become the Brooklyn Nets in 2012. After decades of arrivals and departures, the division's five current members have remained unchanged since.

• 4. Celtics Supremacy And Landmark Seasons

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  Twenty-six times, the Boston Celtics have won the Atlantic Division, more than any other franchise in the group. The division has produced ten NBA champions in total. Boston has claimed seven of those NBA championships while playing in the Atlantic Division. The New York Knicks, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Toronto Raptors each account for one championship apiece. Nearly every one of those ten champions also won the Atlantic Division title in the same season. The only exception was the New York Knicks squad of 1972-73, which won the NBA championship without also topping the division that year. Two seasons stand out for how the rest of the division performed. In 1983-84, all five Atlantic Division teams qualified for the playoffs in the same year. And in 1982-83, every team in the division finished with a winning percentage above 0.500, or 50 percent. That kind of top-to-bottom strength predates the trophy the division's modern champion now takes home.

• 5. The Clifton Trophy

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  The 2021-22 season marked the first time the Atlantic Division's champion took home the Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton Trophy. The trophy takes its name from Nathaniel Clifton, a Hall of Famer. Like the NBA's other division trophies, it honors an African American pioneer in league history. Clifton was one of the first African American players to sign an NBA contract, joining the New York Knicks in 1950. The trophy itself is a crystal ball measuring 200 millimeters across. The honor now sits alongside three defined rivalries between these same five franchises.

• 6. Rivalries

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  The Atlantic Division carries three rivalries beyond the standings. One pits the Boston Celtics against the New York Knicks. Another sets the Celtics against the Philadelphia 76ers. And a third runs between the Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, both based in the New York City area. Three matchups, tied to five franchises, are what the Atlantic Division's regular season still promises before a single game tips off.