NBA Playoffs 2028: How the Bracket Works, When It Should Start and How Postseason Tickets Are Sold

What is and isn't known about the NBA Playoffs 2028

The 2028 NBA playoffs will close out the 2027-28 season, a season whose schedule has not been released yet. So it is no surprise that as of October 9, 2026, the league has published no dates for the 2028 Play-In Tournament, the playoffs or the Finals. What we do have is a stable format and three seasons of official timelines that show where the postseason usually falls on the calendar.

This page focuses on the road from the end of the regular season to the conference finals: how teams qualify, how the bracket is built, when it is likely to happen, and how tickets work when you do not know in advance whether your team will even be playing. For the championship series itself, see our separate NBA Finals 2028 guide.

The playoff format, step by step

Playoff qualifying: top six in, seven to ten into the Play-In

Each conference, East and West, sends eight teams to the playoffs. The top six in the regular-season standings qualify directly. The teams finishing seventh through tenth go to the Play-In Tournament, which decides the last two spots.

The Play-In Tournament before the 2028 playoffs

• Game A: the 7th seed hosts the 8th seed. The winner becomes the 7th seed in the playoffs.
• Game B: the 9th seed hosts the 10th seed. The loser is eliminated.
• Game C: the loser of Game A hosts the winner of Game B. The winner takes the 8th seed; the loser is out.

In practice, that means the 7th and 8th place teams need one win from two chances, while the 9th and 10th place teams must win twice in a row on the road.

Four best-of-seven playoff rounds

The 16 playoff teams then play four rounds, each a best-of-seven series: first round, conference semifinals, conference finals, and the NBA Finals. Within each conference, the bracket is fixed, with the 1st seed facing the 8th, the 2nd facing the 7th, and so on. The team with the better seed has home-court advantage in the series.

Unless the league announces a change, there is no reason to expect a different structure in 2028. With expansion only being explored, and any new teams reportedly targeting 2028-29 at the earliest, the 2028 bracket should be drawn from the current 30 teams.

When should the NBA Playoffs 2028 start?

Here are the last three official timelines side by side. They are reference points, not 2028 dates.

Year	Regular season ends	Play-In	Playoffs begin
2025	Mid-April	April 15-18	April 19
2026	Mid-April	April 14-17	April 18
2027	April 11	April 13-16	April 17
2028	TBC	TBC	TBC

The pattern is tight: the Play-In runs over the few days after the regular season ends, and the first round starts on the third weekend of April. If 2028 follows the same rhythm, the postseason would open around mid-to-late April 2028, with the conference finals in May and the Finals in June. Nothing will be official until the league publishes its 2027-28 key dates, most likely around the release of the full schedule in mid-August 2027.

Why exact playoff game dates arrive so late

Even once the start date is known, the individual game dates of a series are only partly set in advance. Games 5, 6 and 7 are "if necessary" games, and the start of round two depends on how quickly round one ends. Television scheduling also shapes tip-off times. As a result, fans usually only get a precise date for a given home game a few days to a couple of weeks ahead.

That is very different from the regular season, where you can circle a date in August. If you are traveling to see a playoff game, build flexibility into your plans and favor refundable bookings.

Reading the standings as a playoff ticket buyer

For fans hoping to see a home playoff game, the standings in March are the best planning tool. A team that looks set to finish in the top four of its conference is likely to host at least two games in the first round, since the higher seed has home-court advantage. A team hovering around seventh to tenth may instead host a single Play-In game on very short notice. Knowing which scenario you are in tells you whether to watch for a playoff invoice or a last-minute Play-In sale.

How NBA playoff tickets are sold

Playoff tickets are not sold by the NBA centrally. Each franchise sells its own home playoff games, and it does so as qualification unfolds. A typical sequence looks like this:

1. Season-ticket holders first. Teams usually offer playoff seats to full-season holders, often through an invoice or a deposit system for possible home games.
2. Presale for registered fans. Many teams run a presale for fans on their email list or with a team account before the public sale.
3. Public on-sale, round by round. Remaining seats go on sale once a series is confirmed, sometimes only days before the first home game.
4. Refunds for unplayed games. If you buy for an "if necessary" game that is never played, the team’s policy normally covers a refund or credit; check the terms when you buy.

Prices rise as the rounds go on, and resale listings for playoff games are often well above face value, especially for elimination games. No 2028 prices have been published.

Play-In tickets follow the same logic on a compressed timeline: the matchups are only known in the final days of the regular season, and the games come within days.

Recent playoffs, for context

The last two champions show how open the bracket can be. In 2025, the Oklahoma City Thunder won the first title in the franchise’s Oklahoma City era, beating the Indiana Pacers in seven games. In 2026, the New York Knicks won their first championship since 1973, beating the San Antonio Spurs 4-1. Neither result tells us anything about 2028, and we make no predictions; the point is that two very different teams went all the way in back-to-back seasons.

Get the NBA Playoffs 2028 dates first

Our free playoffs alert sends you an email when the league publishes the 2028 Play-In and playoff dates, then a reminder as postseason ticket windows approach. After signing up, you will also see partner ticketing sites for NBA games; resale prices there can exceed face value. For the rest of the season, see our NBA 2027-28 schedule guide.