NBA Playoffs 2026 Simulator

Each conference (East and West) seeds its top 8 teams by regular-season win-loss record. The team with the best record is the No. 1 seed, the second best is No. 2, and so on. In the First Round, No. 1 plays No. 8, No. 2 plays No. 7, No. 3 plays No. 6, and No. 4 plays No. 5. Higher seeds earn home-court advantage throughout their series. Tiebreakers between teams with identical records use head-to-head record, then division record, then conference record.

Introduced in the 2020-21 season, the Play-In Tournament involves seeds 7 through 10 in each conference. The No. 7 and No. 8 seeds play a single game — the winner earns the No. 7 playoff seed. The No. 9 and No. 10 seeds play, and the loser is eliminated. The winners of 8v9 and 9v10 then play for the No. 8 playoff seed. The Play-In runs just before the official playoffs begin and adds significant late-season stakes for bubble teams.

Our simulator loads the projected 2026 playoff seeds by default. You can manually advance any team by clicking on their name or logo in each matchup. You can also enter series scores (0–4) in the input boxes — a team reaching 4 wins automatically advances. The "Random Simulation" button simulates the entire bracket at once using a probability model based on seeding: better seeds have a slight statistical edge, but upsets are always possible. All processing happens locally in your browser — no data is sent to any server.

Yes. In the First Round, all team slots support drag-and-drop repositioning. You can drag any team from one matchup slot to another to create custom first-round pairings. This is useful if you want to simulate alternative seeding scenarios or hypothetical matchups. Once you've set up your custom bracket, you can still use the manual advance or random simulation features as normal.

Click the "Download Bracket (Image)" button to export a high-resolution PNG of your completed bracket. The image includes the AlbertMaster.com branding and all your series scores and predictions, making it perfect for sharing on social media, messaging apps, or printing. The export function uses html2canvas to render the bracket at 2× resolution for crisp results on any screen.

The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are the two most decorated franchises in NBA history, with 17 championships each. The Chicago Bulls (6), Golden State Warriors (7), San Antonio Spurs (5), and Miami Heat (3) round out the most successful organizations. The Celtics dominated the 1950s and 60s, the Lakers have been perennial contenders across multiple eras, and the Warriors are the defining dynasty of the 2010s.

Statistically, yes — home teams win approximately 65% of playoff games historically. However, this advantage diminishes in later rounds as both teams are elite and the series extends to multiple games. The most critical home-court benefit is Game 7: teams with home-court advantage in a deciding game have won roughly 80% of the time in NBA playoff history. That said, notable upsets happen every postseason, and a hot team on a road run can overcome any crowd disadvantage.