On April 16, the 2019-20 NBA season will come to an end. The 2020 NBA Playoffs will begin three days later, on April 19.
The opening round of the playoffs will last just over a week, with the Conference Semifinals scheduled to begin on April 30 - May 1. Depending on how long the first-round series last, the Conference Semifinals could commence a couple of days earlier, on April 28-29.
The Conference Finals are set for May 15-16, with a possible move up to May 13-14. The 2020 NBA Finals will then begin on June 5.
| NBA Playoffs 2020 begin | April 19 |
| Conference Semifinals begin | April 30 - May 1 (possible move up to April 28-29) |
| Conference Finals begin | May 15-16 (possible move up to May 13-14) |
| NBA Finals 2020 begin | June 5 |
The top eight teams in both the Western Conference and Eastern Conference will qualify for the playoffs. Each team will be seeded based on their record and matched up in the first round with a team in their conference based on the following format: 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5.
Every series throughout the playoffs will be best-of-seven. The team with the better record will host games 1, 2, 5 and 7 in each series, leaving games 3, 4 and 6 to be played on the home court of the lower-seeded team.
Whichever team makes it out of the East will then match up with whichever team makes it out of the West in the Finals.
In the East, the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors have each clinched a playoff berth while the Los Angeles Lakers are the first team in the Western Conference to clinch a playoff berth.
