New Orleans Pelicans compete the southwest Division of the NBA's Western Conference and have been since 2002.
The Western Conference of the National Basketball Association is made up of 15. National Basketball Association. National Basketball Association. Basketball. Basketball. teams , and organized into three divisions of five teams each .. Since 2006 , the three division winners and the non-division winner with the best record are seeded 1 through 4 for the playoffs in order of their record , with all remaining non-division winners seeded 5 through 8 .. This leaves open the possibility that a # 2 or # 3 seed could be a non-division winner .. Home-court advantage in a playoff series is decided by record , not by seeding , so if a # 4 and # 5 team met in a playoff series in which the # 5 team had the better record , the # 5 team would have home-court advantage .. The reasoning behind this seeding arrangement is that a non-division winner could have a better record than the winners of the two divisions other than the one that produced the non-division winner in question .. If the three division winners were seeded 1 through 3 for the playoffs in order of their record , and all non-division winners seeded 4 through 8 , it would be possible for the two leading teams of the conference to meet in the Conference Semifinals .. This actually happened in the 2006 NBA Playoffs when the two best teams in the Western Conference , the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks , both from the Southwest Division , faced one another in the Western Conference Semifinals while the 3rd seed , the Northwest Division-leading Denver Nuggets , had fewer wins than the 4th , 5th , 6th , and 7th seeds .. 2006 NBA Playoffs. 2006 NBA Playoffs. San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio Spurs. Dallas Mavericks. Dallas Mavericks. Southwest Division. NBA Southwest Division. Northwest Division. NBA Northwest Division. Denver Nuggets. Denver Nuggets. The NBA proposed and approved of the current format to ensure that the best two teams of a conference can meet no earlier than the NBA Conference Finals .. NBA Conference Finals. NBA Conference Finals. The Western Conference playoffs is divided into two playoffs rounds , and the NBA Conference Finals with the winner of the Conference Championship facing the Eastern Conference champion in the NBA Finals to determine the champion .. NBA Conference Finals. NBA Conference Finals. Eastern Conference. Eastern Conference ( NBA ). NBA Finals. NBA Finals. All playoff series are best-of-seven .. best-of-seven. best-of-seven playoff. The current divisional alignment was adopted at the start of the 2004 -- 05 season , when the now Charlotte Hornets began play as the NBA 's 30th franchise .. Charlotte Hornets. Charlotte Hornets. This necessitated the move of the New Orleans Pelicans from the Eastern Conference 's Central Division to the newly created Southwest Division of the Western Conference .. Southwest Division. NBA Southwest Division. Eastern Conference. Eastern Conference ( NBA ). New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans Pelicans