Eastern Conference (NBA)

• 1. Introduction

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  The Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association has been home to some of the most storied franchises in professional basketball. Fifteen teams now compete under its banner, organized into the Atlantic, Central, and Southeast Divisions. But the conference's shape has not always been fixed. A single expansion decision in 2004 reshuffled the entire map, and two individual Hall of Famers now have their names attached to its most prestigious awards. How did the conference become what it is today, and which teams have left the deepest marks on its history?

• 2. Fifteen Teams, Three Divisions

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  Boston, Massachusetts has been home to the Celtics since the Eastern Division era, making them one of the conference's original members. The fifteen teams of today's Eastern Conference are spread across three divisions: the Atlantic, the Central, and the Southeast. The Atlantic Division holds the Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Toronto Raptors. The Central Division is made up of the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, and Milwaukee Bucks. The Southeast rounds out the conference with the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Washington Wizards. Toronto's presence makes the Raptors the only franchise based outside the United States, sitting in Ontario, Canada.

• 3. The 2004 Realignment

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  Charlotte's re-entry into the league as the Bobcats, the NBA's 30th franchise, triggered a significant restructuring at the start of the 2004-05 season. The league needed to balance its conferences, and the solution was to move the New Orleans Hornets, now known as the Pelicans, out of the Eastern Conference's Central Division. They were relocated to the newly created Southwest Division within the Western Conference. The Charlotte franchise, which would eventually reclaim the Hornets name, joined the Southeast Division. That one expansion team effectively drew a new dividing line between the two conferences.

• 4. Trophies and Honors

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  The NBA first began awarding a formal Eastern Conference championship trophy during the 2000-01 season. For two decades the trophy carried no individual name, but that changed in the 2021-22 season when the league renamed it after Hall of Famer Bob Cousy. That same season introduced a second award: the Larry Bird Trophy, given to the Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player and named after the other Hall of Famer honored in 2021-22. Both Cousy and Bird built their careers with the Boston Celtics, the franchise with the most Eastern Conference championships on record.

• 5. Champions and Records

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  Boston's eleven Eastern Conference titles place the Celtics at the top of the all-time list. Miami follows with seven, while Chicago has six. Cleveland, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia each have five. The Chicago Bulls produced the conference's two most dominant regular-season performances, going 72-10 in one season and 69-13 in another, winning the NBA Finals both times. The Bulls also reached the Finals with a 67-15 record in a separate season. Detroit claimed the 2003-04 title with a 54-28 record and went on to win the NBA Finals that year. Several former Eastern Conference members, including the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers), New Orleans Jazz (now the Utah Jazz), and Cincinnati Royals (now the Sacramento Kings), now compete in the Western Conference.

• 6. Former Members

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  Not every team that began in the Eastern Conference stayed there. The Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Buffalo Braves, New Orleans Jazz, and New Orleans Hornets all spent time in the East before moving west. The Spurs, who entered via the American Basketball Association merger, now anchor the Southwest Division. The Sacramento Kings trace their lineage back to the Cincinnati Royals, who left the conference under that name. The Los Angeles Clippers were once the Buffalo Braves, and the Utah Jazz were the New Orleans Jazz. These migrations reflect decades of franchise relocations and the league's shifting geographic footprint, a process that the 2004-05 realignment extended into the modern era.