Editor’s note: The modern NBA conferences era started in ’70-’71, when the league shifted from Divisions to Conferences. All items below are realignments since that 1970 reclassification.

1) 1972: Kansas City Kings from Eastern to Western, Houston Rockets from Western to Eastern

Just as Oscar Robertson and the Cincinnati Royals were gelling into title contenders in the early ’60s, the NBA upped their difficulty level by shifting them from the Western Division to the Eastern. It was a division swap with the Warriors, who had just made a cross-country relocation from Philadelphia to San Francisco, and it placed the Royals in the same division as the Bill Russell Celtics dynasty, which eliminated them in the 1963, 1964, and 1966 playoffs. A decade later, when the Royals moved to Kansas City and became the Kings, the NBA moved them back to the West. It was much more immaterial this time around, as the conferences were more competitively balanced and the Kings were in the midst of a lengthy playoff drought anyway. The bigger story this time was the team swapping with them, the Houston Rockets. Why did the NBA swap a Houston-based team into the Eastern Conference in exchange for a team that is technically westward in Kansas City? Not to mention also Westward of then Western Conference teams in Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago? Great question which the league never officially answered, leading to speculation that the Rockets were punished for their own recent relocation from San Diego to Houston. They spent eight years in the East before heading back West in 1980.

2) 1978: San Diego Clippers from Eastern to Western, Detroit Pistons from Western to Eastern

Floundering in the standings and struggling to draw fans better invested in the local NFL and NHL franchises, the Buffalo Braves were never long for this world. The franchise lasted just eight years in upstate New York before moving to a polar opposite locale, sunny Southern California. It was a dream base of operations for Clippers-via-Braves owner and Hollywood deal maker Irv Levin, who had traded for the franchise a couple years earlier. In response to the long distance move, the NBA realigned the Clippers into the Western Conference, placing them alongside their new natural rivals, the Lakers. In order to keep the conferences even at 11 teams apiece, the Pistons summarily shifted from the West to the East. Originally based in Fort Wayne, the Pistons were westward based in the early NBA topography, even after shifting into the Eastern Time Zone in Detroit. That changed entirely as the NBA mass expansion happened in the ’60s, bringing along teams in Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, and San Diego. The Pistons struggled in their early years in the Eastern Conference but were a powerhouse by the late ’80s, winning three consecutive conference titles and two NBA championships.

3) 1979: Utah Jazz from Eastern to Western, Indiana Pacers from Western to Eastern
4) 1980: San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets from Eastern to Western, Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls from Western to Eastern

The 1976 ABA merger brought four new teams to the NBA and handful of strange Conference bedfellows. The San Antonio Spurs were placed in the Eastern Conference Central Division, alongside fellow Texans the Rockets and regional foes the New Orleans Jazz, but also the Atlanta Hawks (almost 1,000 miles away) and Washington Bullets (over 1,600 miles away). Meanwhile, the Western Conference Midwest Division got the Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets, two franchises separated by a nearly three-hour flight. When the Jazz relocated from New Orleans to Salt Lake City ahead of the ’79-’80 season and the Dallas Mavericks were added as an expansion franchise in 1980, the NBA took the opportunities to realign strategically. The Rockets and Spurs made their way to the Western Conference, joining the Mavericks as a Texas triad in the Midwest Division. The Jazz joined them, fitting in as a natural regional rival of the Nuggets. Meanwhile, the Central Division became the true midwest grouping, with the Pacers, Bucks, and Bulls joining the Cavaliers and Pistons. These radical realignments led to a couple of notable superlatives. The Rockets became the first team to reach both the Eastern Conference Finals (losing to the 76ers in 1977) and Western Conference Finals (defeating the Kings in 1981). The Bucks then eventually became the first team to win both conferences, with a Western Conference title in 1971 and an Eastern Conference title in 2021, both of which were followed by NBA championships.

5) 1989: Miami Heat from Western to Eastern, Charlotte Hornets from Eastern to Western
6) 1990: Charlotte Hornets from Western to Eastern, Orlando Magic from Eastern to Western
7) 1991: Orlando Magic from Western to Eastern

When the Mavericks were added as an NBA expansion team in 1980, they were supposed to be joined by another new franchise in Minneapolis. However, that second ownership deal fell through, leaving the league with an odd number of teams (23) for the foreseeable future. The league’s expansion committee looked to rectify that scenario when they met in 1987 and made an official recommendation to award new franchises to Charlotte, Minneapolis, and either Miami or Orlando. But in an amusing twist, the owners approved all four, leaving the NBA scheduling not only still uneven but with an even bigger puzzle to solve going forward. The Heat and Hornets were ready to start play in ’88-’89 but the Timberwolves and Magic had to wait until ’89-’90. Charlotte got to play their inaugural season in the East but Miami was stuck in the Midwest Division of the West. Expansion seasons can be difficult enough without adding in the nightmare of scheduling this caused for the Heat, who had to make multiple cross-country trips for West Coast swings. How did the NBA redress this? By giving the Hornets a turn in the Midwest division in ’88-’89, and then the Magic in ’89-’90. Finally, the Magic came back to the East in ’91-’92, and all three teams settled into their (seemingly) permanent conference home.

8) 2004: New Orleans Hornets from Eastern to Western

Not so fast, my friends. When the Hornets relocated 11 hours southwest to New Orleans ahead of the ’02-’03, they inadvertently also restored their eligibility for a conference shift. David Stern had promised the city of Charlotte a new franchise in the wake of the Hornets’ move and delivered quickly, with the expansion Bobcats set to begin play in ’04-’05. Adding just one new franchise allowed the NBA to finally return to an even number of teams for the first time since 1980. The league took the opportunity to reshuffle divisions, expanding from two per conference to three and slotting in teams on a regional basis. Travel woes may not have mattered as much in the era of chartered jets and advanced training regimens, but there was still something satisfying about seeing teams sorted with such geographic calibration. As part of the change, someone had to move from the Eastern Conference to the West and the Hornets were a perfect fit, already existing in the Central Time Zone and so close to the three Texas-based teams. Unfortunately for the Hornets, the biggest ramification this time around was the lack of power balance, as their new home in the Western Conference was the much more difficult gauntlet and sure enough the team fell swiftly in the standings upon moving. But the Hornets (who are now the Pelicans) did at least get to make some history, joining the Rockets as the only modern era teams to switch back-and-forth between conferences two times.