The Atlantic Division is one of the three divisions in the Eastern Conference of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA). The division consists of five teams, the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

, the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The ...

, the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

, the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Ea ...

and the Toronto Raptors. All teams, except the Raptors, are located on the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

. However, Toronto sports teams have over the years enjoyed rivalries with teams in the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

(particularly, Toronto teams also share divisions with Boston and New York teams in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

and the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

. The division was created at the start of the 1970–71 season, when the league expanded from 14 to 17 teams with the addition of the Buffalo Braves, the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central ...

and the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

. The league realigned itself into two conferences, the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference, with two divisions in each conference. The Atlantic Division began with four inaugural members, the Celtics, the Braves, the Knicks and the 76ers. The Celtics, the Knicks and the 76ers all joined from the Eastern Division. The Celtics have won the most Atlantic Division titles with 23. Nine

NBA champions The National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals is the championship series for the NBA held at the conclusion of its postseason. All Finals have been played in a best-of-seven format, and are contested between the winners of the Eastern Co ...

have come from the Atlantic Division. The Celtics have won seventeen championships, while the Knicks, the 76ers and the Raptors have won one championship each. All of them, except the 1972–73 Knicks, were division champions. In the 1983–84 season, all five teams from the division qualified for the playoffs. In the 1982–83 season, all teams in the division had winning percentages above 0.500 (50%). Starting with the 2021–22 season, the Atlantic Division champions would receive the Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton Trophy, named after Hall of Famer

Nathaniel Clifton Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton (born Clifton Nathaniel; October 13, 1922 – August 31, 1990) was an American professional basketball and baseball player. He is best known as one of the first African Americans to play in the National Basketball ...

Current standings

Teams

;Notes * denotes a team that

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

from the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading to four A ...

(ABA).

Former teams

;Notes * denotes an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

Team timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:25 Period = from:1970 till:2021 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:20 bottom:20 top:0 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData = width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text:

(1970–present) bar:2 color:tan2 from:1970 till:1978 text: Buffalo Braves (1970–1978) bar:3 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text:

(1970–present) bar:4 color:tan1 from:1970 till:end text:

(1970–present) bar:5 color:tan1 from:1976 till:end text: New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets (1976–present) bar:6 color:tan2 from:1978 till:2004 text: Washington Bullets/Wizards (1978–2004) bar:7 color:tan2 from:1988 till:1989 text:

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

(1988–1989) bar:8 color:tan2 from:1989 till:2004 text:

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

(1989–2004) bar:9 color:tan2 from:1991 till:2004 text:

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

(1991–2004) bar:10 color:tan1 from:2004 till:end text: Toronto Raptors (2004–present)

Division champions

Titles by team

Season results

Rivalries

Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks

Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers

New York Knicks vs. Brooklyn Nets

Toronto Raptors vs. Brooklyn Nets

Notes

* Because of a lockout, the season did not start until February 5, 1999, and all 29 teams played a shortened 50-game regular season schedule. * Because of a lockout, the season did not start until December 25, 2011, and all 30 teams played a shortened 66-game regular season schedule. *In the aftermath of the

Boston Marathon bombing The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, w ...

, the NBA canceled the April 16 game scheduled in Boston between the Celtics and the Pacers; the game was not rescheduled because it would have had no impact on either team's playoff seedings.

References

;General * * ;Specific

External links

NBA.com Team Index
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atlantic Division (Nba) Eastern Conference (NBA) National Basketball Association divisions Boston Celtics Brooklyn Nets Buffalo Braves Charlotte Hornets Miami Heat New Jersey Nets New York Nets New York Knicks Orlando Magic Philadelphia 76ers Toronto Raptors Washington Bullets Washington Wizards Articles which contain graphical timelines NBA