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During the 2014-2015 NBA season, each team in the Southwest Division (Houston, Memphis, San Antonio, Dallas, New Orleans) of the Western Conference made the playoffs.

Has this happened before? If so, in which seasons has all teams in a division made the playoffs? I recognize there was a realignment that took place for the 2004-2005 NBA season, but during the 2003-2004 NBA season, almost all teams in the Midwest division (6 of 7 teams) of the Western Conference made the playoffs.

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    The east was so bad that year... only 2 teams in the west wouldn't have made the playoffs in the east, and I wouldn't be surprised if either one would've won enough more games playing the weaker competition to have won the 7 or 8 more games needed to make it. – Joe♦ Apr 16 '15 at 16:52
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Yup. The 2005-2006 Season, the 1985-1986 season, and the 1983-1984 season.

In 2006:

All five teams in the Central Division made the playoffs, marking the first time all teams in a division made the playoffs since the entire Midwest Division made it 20 years before. 1

In 1986:

All Midwest Division teams make the playoffs, the first time an entire division had done this since the 1983-84 season when all Atlantic Division teams made the playoffs. 2

In 1983, playoff expansion resulted in the entire Atlantic division making it:

The NBA Playoffs were expanded from 6 teams per conference to 8, where it stands to this date. As a result, the 'first round bye' system was eliminated. 3

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  • So, 2005-2006 and 1985-1986? – user527 Apr 16 '15 at 20:58
  • Also 83-84. And that is it since the realignment in the 1960s where there were no divisions – Jack Sinclair Apr 16 '15 at 21:02
  • Edited the original answer for completeness – Jack Sinclair Apr 16 '15 at 21:09
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    @pacoverflow It's not particularly hard to look at the standings for each year if you want to see if it's correct or not. The 1983 year makes sense, because prior to 1983 only six teams made the playoffs from each conference, making it a lot less likely. – Joe♦ Apr 17 '15 at 4:14
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    @Madmanta You need to source quotations. Otherwise it's plagiarism. Please do not edit out others' sourcing of your quotations. – Joe♦ Apr 17 '15 at 4:16

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