How the NBA Teams bracket works
Rank NBA teams without dragging anything into rows. You get one matchup at a time — Los Angeles Lakers or Boston Celtics? Golden State Warriors or Chicago Bulls? — and after 31 picks the bracket has a champion, with everything else placed by how far it got. The awkward pairings are the point: they are the calls a drag-and-drop tier list quietly lets you avoid.
This bracket runs 5 rounds at the default 32-slot size (Round of 32, Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four, Championship), with every one of the 32 contenders in the field. Because the draw is shuffled, two people playing the same bracket rarely face the same matchups. You can also play it at 8 or 16 slots for a shorter or longer run.
31 picks, 5 rounds
- Round of 3216 matchups
- Sweet 168 matchups
- Elite 84 matchups
- Final Four2 matchups
- Championship1 matchup
Roughly 2-4 minutes start to finish.
All 32 entrants
All 32 entrants are listed below, including Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls.
Los Angeles Lakers
Western Conference
Boston Celtics
Eastern Conference
Golden State Warriors
Western Conference
Chicago Bulls
Eastern Conference
Miami Heat
Eastern Conference
New York Knicks
Eastern Conference
Philadelphia 76ers
Eastern Conference
San Antonio Spurs
Western Conference
Milwaukee Bucks
Eastern Conference
Denver Nuggets
Western Conference
Phoenix Suns
Western Conference
Dallas Mavericks
Western Conference
Brooklyn Nets
Eastern Conference
Los Angeles Clippers
Western Conference
Toronto Raptors
Eastern Conference
Cleveland Cavaliers
Eastern Conference
Oklahoma City Thunder
Western Conference
Minnesota Timberwolves
Western Conference
Houston Rockets
Western Conference
Atlanta Hawks
Eastern Conference
Portland Trail Blazers
Western Conference
Indiana Pacers
Eastern Conference
Sacramento Kings
Western Conference
Memphis Grizzlies
Western Conference
New Orleans Pelicans
Western Conference
Orlando Magic
Eastern Conference
Utah Jazz
Western Conference
Detroit Pistons
Eastern Conference
Washington Wizards
Eastern Conference
Charlotte Hornets
Eastern Conference
90s Bulls Dynasty
Historic Dynasty
Showtime Lakers (1980s)
Historic Dynasty
Would rather group them than rank them? Open all 32 in the tier list maker and sort them into S, A, B, C, D and F tiers instead — same entrants, no matchups.
How everyone else ranked them
Aggregated from 5 completed NBA Teams brackets. Win rate is the share of head-to-head matchups each entrant has won across every play.
- 1
Milwaukee Bucks
19W - 2L · won 3 brackets
90%
win rate
- 2
Memphis Grizzlies
12W - 4L · won 1 bracket
75%
win rate
- 3
Orlando Magic
11W - 5L
69%
win rate
- 4
Philadelphia 76ers
8W - 4L · won 1 bracket
67%
win rate
- 5
Golden State Warriors
10W - 5L
67%
win rate
- 6
Houston Rockets
9W - 5L
64%
win rate
- 7
Los Angeles Lakers
7W - 5L
58%
win rate
- 8
Chicago Bulls
7W - 5L
58%
win rate
- 9
Phoenix Suns
6W - 5L
55%
win rate
- 10
Toronto Raptors
6W - 5L
55%
win rate
Getting a ranking you actually agree with
- 1Decide your criteria before you start — peak, longevity or trophies — and hold to it all the way through.
- 2The default run puts all 32 contenders in the draw. Short on time? Drop to 16 slots — a quicker run over a random 16 of them.
- 3Use undo the moment you regret a pick. One reflex answer in an early round can knock out a favourite before it gets going.
NBA Teams bracket FAQ
How many contenders are in the NBA Teams bracket?
The pool holds 32 contenders. A default run puts all of them in the draw and takes 31 picks across 5 rounds: Round of 32, Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four, Championship. Other field sizes are available too — 8, 16, 32 slots.
Which contenders are included?
Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks, plus 20 more. Every entrant is listed further down this page with its artwork.
How long does the rank NBA teams take?
About 2-4 minutes — 31 choices at the default size, or 7 if you drop to a 8-slot bracket. There is no sign-up and nothing is stored until you reach the final.
Is this a nba teams tier list or a ranking?
Both are here, and the bracket is closer to a tier list than it looks. It ends with a champion, a runner-up and then every other contender grouped by the round it went out in — which is exactly a set of tiers, decided by 31 direct comparisons rather than by your first guess at a layout. What it deliberately does not do is claim a precise gap between two contenders that never met. If you would rather place the contenders into S through F rows yourself, the tier list maker loads all 32 of them at bracketranker.com/tier-list-maker.
Is there a community nba teams ranking?
Every completed bracket feeds the NBA Teams community results page, which aggregates win rates across all plays and tracks how often each of the 32 entrants takes the title. It updates continuously, so it moves as more people play.
Can I change which contenders are included?
Use the bracket maker: add your own contenders, name it, and share the link so other people play the same field. That is the route to take when this pool of 32 is missing something you would have picked, or when you want a version scoped to one era, label or franchise.