Northwest Division (NBA)

• 1. Introduction

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  In the 2009-10 season, the division's four playoff qualifiers each won more than 50 games. That single season is a hint of how tightly matched this sprawling division has been. The Northwest Division has swapped only one of its five teams since it was created, when an entire franchise relocated to a new city. Which franchise has claimed the most division titles? What does the trophy the current champion receives have to do with a player from a much earlier era of the NBA? And how did this division end up covering more ground than any other in the league?

• 2. Realignment And Relocation

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  In the 2004-05 season, the NBA grew from 29 to 30 teams by adding the Charlotte Bobcats. The league used the opportunity to reorganize its conferences. Each conference had run on two divisions. The league split them into three apiece, and the Northwest Division became one of three divisions in the Western Conference. The new division's inaugural teams were the Denver Nuggets, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Seattle SuperSonics and the Utah Jazz.

  The Trail Blazers and the SuperSonics arrived from the Pacific Division, based respectively in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. The Nuggets, the Timberwolves and the Jazz came from the now-defunct Midwest Division instead, representing Denver, Colorado, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Salt Lake City, Utah.

  Prior to the 2008-09 season, the SuperSonics left Seattle for Oklahoma City and were renamed the Thunder. The team stayed inside the Northwest Division throughout the move. That relocation is the only membership change the division has undergone since its creation.

  Among the NBA's six divisions, the Northwest Division covers by far the largest geographic area. Its footprint closely resembles that of the National Hockey League's own Northwest Division. The NHL's version came first, launching six years earlier, and it was eventually shut down. Which of these franchises would come to dominate the division's history remained to be seen.

• 3. Title Ledger

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  Eight Northwest Division titles belong to the SuperSonics-Thunder franchise, more than any other team in the division's history. The most recent of those came in the 2024-25 season, when the Thunder claimed the title again.

  The Denver Nuggets rank second with six division titles, and the Utah Jazz follow with five. The Portland Trail Blazers have won twice, while the Minnesota Timberwolves have never captured a Northwest Division championship. In 2018-19, the division's four playoff qualifiers again each won at least 49 games. The team that leads this ledger each season now takes home more than bragging rights.

• 4. The Sam Jones Trophy

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  The Northwest Division has awarded its champion the Sam Jones Trophy every year since the 2021-22 season. The Sam Jones Trophy follows the same pattern as the NBA's other division trophies, each honoring an African American pioneer of the league.

  Sam Jones played his entire NBA career for the Boston Celtics, from 1957 to 1969. He never suited up for a team now in the Northwest Division. During that span, Sam Jones helped the Celtics win 10 NBA championships as part of one of the league's great dynasties.

  In 1974-75, Sam Jones served as an assistant coach during the Utah Jazz's first NBA season. At that time, the franchise called New Orleans home instead of Utah. The Sam Jones Trophy itself is a 200 mm crystal ball.

  That New Orleans season took place nearly fifty years before the trophy carrying his name entered the division at all.