The Western Conference is one of two
conferences that make up the
National Basketball Association (NBA), the other being the
Eastern Conference. Both conferences consist of 15 teams organized into three
divisions. The Western Conference comprises the
Northwest,
Pacific, and
Southwest Divisions.
The current divisional alignment was adopted at the start of the
2004–05 season, when the now
Charlotte Hornets began play as the NBA's 30th franchise. This necessitated the move of the
New Orleans Pelicans (named New Orleans Hornets at the time) from the Eastern Conference's
Central Division to the newly created
Southwest Division of the Western Conference.
The NBA first started awarding a Western Conference championship trophy during the
2000–01 season, renaming it after Hall of Famer
Oscar Robertson in the
2021–22 season. Also in 2021–22, the league began awarding the Earvin "Magic" Johnson Trophy to the
Western Conference Finals Most Valuable Player, named after Hall of Famer
Magic Johnson.
2024–25 standings
Notes
* z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
* y – Clinched division title
* pi – Clinched play-in tournament spot (locked into a play-in spot but not able to clinch a playoff spot directly)
* x – Clinched playoff spot
* * – Division leader
* o– Eliminated from the playoffs
Teams
Former teams
;Notes
* denotes an
expansion team.
* denotes a team that
merged from the
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...
(ABA).
Team timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:25
Period = from:1970 till:2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:60 left:20 bottom:20 top:0
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData =
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:tan2 from:1970 till:1980 text: Chicago Bulls (1970–1980)
bar:2 color:tan2 from:1970 till:1978 text: Detroit Pistons (1970–1978)
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text: Los Angeles Lakers (1970–present)
bar:4 color:tan2 from:1970 till:1980 text: Milwaukee Bucks (1970–1980)
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text: Phoenix Suns (1970–present)
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text: Portland Trail Blazers (1970–present)
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1970 till:1972 text: San Diego / Houston Rockets (1970–1972, 1980–present)
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1980 till:end
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text: San Francisco / Golden State Warriors (1970–present)
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text: Seattle SuperSonics / Oklahoma City Thunder (1970–present)
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1972 till:end text: Kansas City-Omaha / Kansas City / Sacramento Kings (1972–present)
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1976 till:end text: Denver Nuggets (1976–present)
bar:12 color:tan2 from:1976 till:1979 text: Indiana Pacers (1976–1979)
bar:13 color:tan1 from:1978 till:end text: San Diego / Los Angeles Clippers (1978–present)
bar:14 color:tan1 from:1979 till:end text: Utah Jazz (1979–present)
bar:15 color:tan1 from:1980 till:end text: Dallas Mavericks (1980–present)
bar:16 color:tan1 from:1980 till:end text: San Antonio Spurs (1980–present)
bar:17 color:tan2 from:1988 till:1989 text: Miami Heat (1988–1989)
bar:18 color:tan2 from:1989 till:1990 text: Charlotte Hornets (1989–1990)
bar:19 color:tan1 from:1989 till:end text: Minnesota Timberwolves (1989–present)
bar:20 color:tan2 from:1990 till:1991 text: Orlando Magic (1990–1991)
bar:21 color:tan1 from:1995 till:end text: Vancouver Grizzlies / Memphis Grizzlies (1995–present)
bar:22 color:tan1 from:2004 till:end text: New Orleans Hornets / Pelicans (2004–present)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:3 start:1970
Conference champions
Conference championships by team
^Note: Milwaukee joined the
Eastern Conference during the 1980–81 season.
Season results
Notes
* The New Orleans Hornets temporarily relocated to Oklahoma City due to the
effect of Hurricane Katrina. The majority of home games were played in Oklahoma City, while a few remained in New Orleans.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Western Conference (Nba)
Western Conference (NBA)
Sports in the Western United States