NBA Expansion Should Also Come with a Sanity Check on Divisions

The NBA has considered expansion for many years, but finally, it appears the league is ready to welcome one or two new franchises for the first time since the Charlotte Bobcats (now the Hornets) joined the league in 2004.

Per ESPN's Shams Charania, the NBA's board of governors will vote on expanding specifically to Las Vegas and Seattle, targeting a 2028-29 start.

Once approved, realignment is inevitable, with one Western Conference franchise moving East (probably the Memphis Grizzlies; maybe the Minnesota Timberwolves).

After spending way too much time trying to rebalance the league in eight divisions of four, each idea making less sense than the next, the obvious next step for the NBA is to scrap divisions entirely.

A Stab at Realignment

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The following is entirely theoretical, but it's an idea for how the NBA could set up divisions after the addition of Las Vegas and Seattle, with Memphis moving East:

Eastern Conference

Division A: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic

Division B: Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards

Division C: Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers

Division D: Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, Milwaukee Bucks

Western Conference

Division A: Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, Seattle [SuperSonics?]

Division B: LA Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Las Vegas [?], Phoenix Suns

Division C: Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Utah Jazz

Division D: Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, New Orleans Pelicans, San Antonio Spurs

Let's dig into the craziness of the above...

Divisions are Geographically Illogical

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Let's be clear up front, the geography of the NBA doesn't make any sense.

The Portland Trail Blazers are closer to the Pacific Ocean than the Pacific Division's Phoenix Suns.

Not that it's all bad. The four California teams, three Texas, two Florida, and two New York teams are appropriately lumped together in the current system, but who put the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Northwest? And once the Seattle franchise starts up, they'll be significantly closer to the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings.

That's just scratching the surface. The Detroit Pistons are significantly closer to the Toronto Raptors than the New York Knicks. Oklahoma City is neither north nor west despite its Northwest Division allocation. A drive from Dallas to Oklahoma City should take about three hours. Meanwhile, Dallas to New Orleans, its Southwest Division companion, is about 7.5 hours away by car (not that the team is driving in most cases).

The conferences themselves aren't entirely valid. If the debate is between Memphis and Minnesota, the Grizzlies are currently situated further east (slightly) than the Eastern Conference Chicago Bulls. The NBA needs to expand further West to get the Timberwolves and Pelicans (another team significantly further East than Minnesota) into the East, but that's a discussion for the next decade (don't check how close Houston is to Minnesota in longitude).

What are Divisions Used For?

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The NBA uses divisions in a few areas, notably scheduling and playoff seeding tiebreakers.

In the current unbalanced schedule, each team plays 10 fellow conference teams four times. The remaining four, like the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets this season, only play three regular-season games against each other.

With 32 teams, shift to 10 teams at three apiece and five at four—assuming all teams visit the other conference once a year; that can be adjusted to increase in-conference play. Whatever the answer, let the NBA scheduler figure it out. The league doesn't need divisions to sort through that issue.

The other primary purpose of divisions is to break playoff ties, and the league has already diminished their importance. Before 2015-16, a division winner with a lower win percentage was still guaranteed a top-4 seed. The NBA shifted head-to-head record as a priority over division.

It still comes into play as the next check, should teams have the same record and an even season series, but the NBA is complex enough that if these were also deprecated, the world would still turn.

Divisions are a vestige of the past that don't accomplish enough, other than lump several teams together into a nonsensical grouping. Travel would decrease if the Timberwolves weren't arbitrarily obligated to play four against the Trail Blazers.

And many of the NBA's best rivalries have nothing to do with its division assignment. The Lakers and Nuggets have been cinema in recent years.

Other Considerations

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The NBA needs to do away with divisions because:

They're archaic

They force the league into a geographic M.C. Escher illogic

They increase travel distance

Their use as tiebreakers aren't important enough; simplification is often the best path

They aren't needed to form rivalries

They don't help make the NBA schedulers' jobs any easier

Without divisions, the NBA schedule, playoff seeding, and day-to-day life wouldn't change significantly. The improvements would be felt in reduced travel, and basic simplification in an already complicated world.

Now, who wants to talk about whether conferences are still needed?

Email Eric Pincus at [e-mail] and follow him on X @EricPincus and Bluesky.