The Eastern Conference is one of two conferences that make up the National Basketball Association (NBA), the other being the Western Conference. Both conferences consist of 15 teams organized into three divisions. The current divisional alignment was adopted at the start of the 2004–05 season, when the now

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

began play as the NBA's 30th franchise. This necessitated the move of the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...

from the Eastern Conference's Central Division to the newly created

Southwest Division The Southwest Division is one of the three divisions in the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Despite its name, the division is actually located in the South Central United States. The division consists of five tea ...

of the Western Conference. The NBA first started awarding an Eastern Conference championship trophy during the 2000–01 season, renaming it after Hall of Famer Bob Cousy in the 2021–22 season. Also in 2021–22, the league began awarding the Larry Bird Trophy to the Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player, named after Hall of Famer Larry Bird.

Current standings

Teams

Former teams

;Notes * denotes an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

. * denotes a team that merged from the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

(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:tan1 from:1970 till:end text: Atlanta Hawks (1970–present) bar:2 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text:

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

(1970–present) bar:3 color:tan2 from:1970 till:1978 text: Buffalo Braves (1970–1978) bar:4 color:tan2 from:1970 till:1972 text: Cincinnati Royals (1970–1972) bar:5 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text:

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

(1970–present) bar:6 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text:

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

(1970–present) bar:7 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text: Syracuse Nationals / Philadelphia 76ers (1970–present) bar:8 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text: Baltimore Bullets / Capital Bullets / Washington Bullets / Washington Wizards (1970–present) bar:9 color:tan2 from:1972 till:1980 text:

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

(1972–1980) bar:10 color:tan2 from:1974 till:1979 text:

New Orleans Jazz New Orleans Jazz may refer to: * Dixieland, a style of jazz music (New Orleans Jazz) * * New Orleans Jazz (NBA team), professional basketball team that relocated and became the Utah Jazz *New Orleans Jazz football club New is an adjective referri ...

(1974–1979) bar:11 color:tan1 from:1976 till:end text: New York Nets / New Jersey Nets / Brooklyn Nets (1976–present) bar:12 color:tan2 from:1976 till:1980 text: San Antonio Spurs (1976–1980) bar:13 color:tan1 from:1978 till:end text: Detroit Pistons (1978–present) bar:14 color:tan1 from:1979 till:end text:

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

(1979–present) bar:15 color:tan1 from:1980 till:end text: Chicago Bulls (1980–present) bar:16 color:tan1 from:1980 till:end text: Milwaukee Bucks (1980–present) bar:17 color:tan1 from:1988 till:1989 text: Charlotte Hornets / Bobcats / Hornets (1988–2002, 2004–2014, 2014–present) bar:17 color:tan1 from:1990 till:2002 bar:17 color:tan1 from:2004 till:end bar:18 color:tan1 from:1989 till:end text: Miami Heat (1989–present) bar:19 color:tan1 from:1989 till:1990 text:

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

(1989–1990, 1991–present) bar:19 color:tan1 from:1991 till:end bar:20 color:tan1 from:1995 till:end text: Toronto Raptors (1995–present) bar:21 color:tan2 from:2002 till:2004 text: New Orleans Hornets (2002–2004) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:3 start:1970

Eastern Conference champions

List of Eastern Conference teams with the most conference championships

* 10:

* 6: Chicago Bulls * 6: Miami Heat * 5:

* 5: Detroit Pistons * 5:

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

* 4: Baltimore/Washington Bullets * 4:

* 2: New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets * 2:

* 1:

* 1: Milwaukee Bucks * 1: Toronto Raptors

Season results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastern Conference (Nba)

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...