NBA Play-In Tournament 2027: Dates, Format and How the Final Playoff Spots Are Won
Quick Answer: The 2027 NBA Play-In Tournament — officially the SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament — runs from Tuesday, April 13 through Friday, April 16, 2027. The No. 7 through No. 10 finishers in each conference play six games that decide the final two playoff seeds per conference, and Prime Video carries all six games exclusively.
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When is the 2027 NBA Play-In Tournament?
The 2027 NBA Play-In Tournament runs Tuesday, April 13 through Friday, April 16, 2027, per the league’s official list of key dates for the 2026-27 season. It arrives immediately after the regular season: all 30 teams play their final regular-season game on Sunday, April 11, and playoff rosters are then set on Monday, April 12, before the tournament tips off the next day.
Four days, six games, and no wasted motion. The 2027 NBA playoffs follow the Play-In, so these games are the last door into the postseason — once they are over, the bracket is set.
Which teams take part in the Play-In?
Eight teams total take part: the clubs that finish seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth in each conference at the end of the regular season. The top six teams in each conference go straight through to the playoffs and skip the Play-In entirely.
Which teams those eight are will not be known until April 2027, when the final standings lock in. No matchups and no tip-off times exist yet for the 2027 tournament — any page showing named teams or game times for this Play-In is describing last season’s tournament. If you see schedules floating around, check the dates before trusting them.
How does the Play-In format work?
The format has been the same since the tournament became a full-time fixture in 2021, and it is built around one simple idea: the better your finish, the shorter your path. Each conference plays three games, and the higher-seeded team hosts every game it plays in.
| Game | Matchup | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | No. 7 hosts No. 8 | Winner is the No. 7 playoff seed; loser gets one more chance |
| Game 2 | No. 9 hosts No. 10 | Winner advances; loser is eliminated |
| Game 3 | Loser of Game 1 hosts winner of Game 2 | Winner is the No. 8 playoff seed; loser is eliminated |
That is the whole tournament: six games across the two conferences, and the two survivors in each conference take the No. 7 and No. 8 playoff seeds. The Play-In is its own event — the games are not regular-season games and they are not playoff games either.
What do the winners actually get?
A seventh- or eighth-place team needs just one win to reach the playoffs. Lose Game 1 and you get a second chance in Game 3; win it and you are the No. 8 seed anyway. A ninth- or tenth-place team has no margin at all: it must win two games in a row or go home. Lose once and the season is over.
That imbalance is the point of the format. Finishing seventh or eighth still means something — the reward is an extra life that the ninth and tenth seeds do not get. In recent years, none of the four lower-seeded teams have managed the two-win run, which tells you how steep the climb is from the bottom of the bracket.
Where does the Play-In sit in the season?
The Play-In is the bridge between the regular season and the playoffs. By mid-April, the rest of the season’s landmarks are already in the books: the Emirates NBA Cup concluded back in December, the trade deadline passed on February 11, and All-Star Weekend in Phoenix wrapped up in February. The 2026-27 season key dates page maps the full journey from opening night on October 20 to this April finale.
One thing to be clear about: the Play-In is not the start of the playoffs. It is the gate before them. Once the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds are decided on Friday, April 16, the 2027 playoff bracket locks and the first round begins after it.
Where can you watch the Play-In?
All six Play-In games stream exclusively on Prime Video, per Amazon’s August 2026 announcement of its 2026-27 NBA schedule. That is the second year of the new national TV era in which the Play-In lives on Prime, so if you want to follow the tournament live, a Prime subscription is the only route.
Prime Video’s NBA package also carries the NBA Cup knockout rounds and, new this season, an exclusive presentation of the Eastern Conference Finals — see the breakdown of Prime Video’s NBA coverage for the full slate.
Play-In FAQs
When do the 2027 NBA playoffs start?
The playoffs follow the Play-In Tournament, which ends on Friday, April 16, 2027. The exact start date is the next landmark on the league’s postseason calendar.
Can a No. 9 or No. 10 seed actually make the playoffs?
Yes — but the path is brutal. A ninth- or tenth-place team must win two straight games (first the 9-vs-10 game, then the winner-takes-all game against the loser of 7-vs-8). One loss ends their season.
Do Play-In games count as playoff games?
No. The Play-In is a separate event between the regular season and the playoffs. Its games decide who gets the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds; they are neither regular-season games nor playoff games.
Who hosts the Play-In games?
The higher-seeded team hosts every Play-In game it plays. So the No. 7 team hosts the 7-vs-8 game, the No. 9 team hosts the 9-vs-10 game, and the loser of the 7-vs-8 game hosts the final winner-takes-all game for the No. 8 seed.
What does SoFi have to do with the Play-In?
SoFi is the title sponsor of the tournament, which is officially called the SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament. The sponsorship does not change the format or the dates.
Conclusion
The 2027 NBA Play-In Tournament runs April 13-16, 2027: six games, eight teams, and two final playoff spots per conference on the line. The seventh and eighth seeds need one win, the ninth and tenth seeds need two, and there are no second chances left after the final game. When the tournament tips off, the NBA scores page carries the night’s results.
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