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| Formerly | Eastern Division |
|---|---|
| League | National Basketball Association |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Founded | 1970 |
| No. of teams | 15 |
| Most recent champion(s) | Boston Celtics (11th title) |
| Most titles | Boston Celtics (11 titles) |
The Eastern Conference is one of two conferences that make up the National Basketball Association (NBA), the other being the Western Conference. Both conferences consist of 15 teams organized into three divisions. The Eastern Conference comprises the Atlantic, Central, and Southeast Divisions.
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. 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.
The NBA first started awarding an Eastern Conference championship trophy during the 2000–01 season, renaming it after Hall of Famer Bob Cousy in the 2021–22 season.[1] Also in 2021–22, the league began awarding the Larry Bird Trophy to the Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player, named after Hall of Famer Larry Bird.[2]
- ^ Golliver, Ben (May 12, 2022). "NBA redesigns Finals trophy, adds awards named after Magic Johnson, Larry Bird". The Washington Post.
To complete the postseason collection, the NBA updated its conference championship trophies, first created in 2001, and renamed them after Hall of Famers Bob Cousy (for the East) and Oscar Robertson (for the West)
- ^ Powell, Shaun (May 12, 2022). "NBA introduces new lineup of postseason hardware". NBA.com. Retrieved May 12, 2022.