The Midwest Division was a division in the Western 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 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 each in each conference. The Midwest Division began with four inaugural members, the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

, the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

, the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 196 ...

and the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

. The Bulls and the Suns joined from the Western Division, while the Pistons and the Bucks joined from the Eastern Division. The division was disbanded when the league expanded from 29 to 30 teams with the addition of the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...

at the start of the 2004–05 season. The league realigned itself into two conferences with three divisions each. The Midwest Division was replaced with two new divisions, the Southwest Division and the Northwest Division. The 2003–04 season, the division's last season, consisted of seven teams, the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Southwest Division. Th ...

, the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

, the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

, the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

, the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

, the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

and the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

. The Mavericks, the Rockets, the Grizzlies and the Spurs joined the Southwest Division, while the Nuggets, the Timberwolves and the Jazz joined the Northwest Division. The Denver Nuggets played 28 seasons in the Midwest Division, longer than any other team. Three teams, the Heat, the Magic and the

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 ...

, only played one season each in the division. None of the four inaugural members remained when the division was disbanded in 2004. Despite the name, the division was made up mostly of teams who were located far outside the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

from 1980 to 2004.

Results

The San Antonio Spurs won the most Midwest Division titles with eleven. The

and the Utah Jazz won the second most titles with six. However, the Bucks won those six titles in only ten seasons before they left the division. The 34th and last division champion was the Minnesota Timberwolves. Seven division champions had or tied for the best regular season record during the season. Five

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 ...

came from the Midwest Division. The Spurs and the Houston Rockets won two championships each, while the Bucks won one championship. All of them, except the 1994–95 Rockets, were division champions. The Midwest Division twice had six teams qualified for the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

. In the 1985–86 season, all six teams from the division qualified for the playoffs, while in the 2003–04 season, six of seven teams qualified for the playoffs. In the division's first and last season, all teams in the division had

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

s above 0.500 (50%).

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 ...

. * 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).

Team timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:25 Period = from:1970 till:2004 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:60 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:1980 text:

(1970–1980) bar:2 color:tan1 from:1970 till:1978 text:

(1970–1978) bar:3 color:tan1 from:1970 till:1980 text:

(1970–1980) bar:4 color:tan1 from:1970 till:1972 text:

(1970–1972) bar:5 color:tan1 from:1972 till:1988 text: Kansas City-Omaha/Kansas City/Sacramento Kings (1972–1988) bar:6 color:tan1 from:1976 till:end text:

(1976–2004) bar:7 color:tan1 from:1976 till:1979 text:

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first estab ...

(1976–1979) bar:8 color:tan1 from:1979 till:end text:

(1979–2004) bar:9 color:tan1 from:1980 till:end text:

(1980–2004) bar:10 color:tan1 from:1980 till:end text:

(1980–2004) bar:11 color:tan1 from:1980 till:end text:

(1980–2004) bar:12 color:tan1 from:1988 till:1989 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 ...

(1988–1989) bar:13 color:tan1 from:1989 till:1990 text:

(1989–1990) bar:14 color:tan1 from:1989 till:end text:

(1989–2004) bar:15 color:tan1 from:1990 till:1991 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 ...

(1990–1991) bar:16 color:tan1 from:1995 till:2004 text: Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies (1995–2004) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1970

Division champions

Titles by team

Season results

Rivalries

Houston Rockets vs. San Antonio Spurs

Utah Jazz vs. Houston Rockets

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.

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

NBA.com Team Index
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midwest Division (Nba) Western Conference (NBA) National Basketball Association divisions Sports in the Midwestern United States