NBA 2025-26 Regular Season Standings

Play-In and Playoff Tie-Break Procedures

Ties for postseason qualification and seeding and division winner will be broken utilizing the criteria set forth in Paragraph L.2.a below (in the case of ties involving two (2) teams) and Paragraph L.2.b below (in the case of ties involving more than two (2) teams), and the guidelines set forth in Paragraph L.2.c below.

a. Two Teams Tied. In the case of a tie in regular-season records involving only two teams, the following criteria will be utilized in the following order:

1. Better winning percentage in games against each other.
2. Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division).
3. Better winning percentage against teams in own division (only if tied teams are in same division).
4. Better winning percentage against teams in own conference.
5. Better winning percentage in games against teams eligible for the postseason in own conference (including teams that finished the Regular Season tied for one of the best 10 records in their conference).
6. Better winning percentage in games against teams eligible for the postseason in opposite conference (including teams that finished the Regular Season tied for one of the best 10 records in their conference).
7. Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents ("point differential").

b. More Than Two Teams Tied. In the case of a tie in Regular Season records involving more than two (2) teams, the following criteria will be utilized in the following order:

1. Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division).
2. Better winning percentage in games among the tied teams.
3. Better winning percentage in games against teams in own division (only if all tied teams are in same division).
4. Better winning percentage in games against teams in own conference.
5. Better winning percentage in games against teams eligible for the postseason in own conference (including teams that finished the Regular Season tied for one (1) of the best ten (10) records in their conference).
6. Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents ("point differential").

c. Guidelines For Applying Tie-Break Criteria. The following guidelines shall be used when applying the above criteria to break ties for postseason qualification and seeding and division winner:

1. • (a) Ties to determine the division winners must be broken before any other ties.
   • (b) When a tie must be broken to determine a division winner, the results of the tie-break shall be used to determine only the division winner, and not for any other purpose.
2. If a tie involves more than two (2) teams, the tie-break criteria in Paragraph L.2.b above shall be applied in the order set forth therein until the first to occur of the following:
   • (a) Each of the tied teams has a different winning percentage or point differential under the applicable tie-break criterion (a "complete" breaking of the tie). In this circumstance, the team with the best winning percentage or point differential under the criterion will be awarded the best postseason position, the team with the next-best winning percentage or point differential will be awarded the next-best postseason position, and so on, and no further application of the tie-break criteria will be required.
     -- OR --
   • (b) One (1) or more (but not all) of the tied teams has a different division winner status, winning percentage or point differential under the applicable tie-break criterion (a "partial" breaking of the tie). In this circumstance: (x) any team(s) that performed better under the applicable criterion than any other team(s) will be awarded a higher postseason position than such other team(s); and (y) teams that had equivalent performance under the applicable criterion will remain tied, and such remaining tie(s) will be broken by applying, from the beginning, the criteria in Paragraph L.2.a above (for any remaining tie involving only two (2) teams) or Paragraph L.2.b above (for any remaining tie involving more than two (2) teams) and the guidelines set forth in this Paragraph.
3. If application of the criteria in Paragraph L.2.a or L.2.b does not result in the breaking of a tie, the postseason positions of the tied teams will be determined by a random drawing