The numbers back it up. The Indiana Pacers have the top home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference.
Looking at numbers since the start of the 1999-2000 season, when the Pacers moved a few blocks from Market Square Arena to what is now Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and found that the Pacers get a bigger boost from playing at home than any other Eastern Conference team.
Here’s how Indiana’s home-court edge is best in the East.
Pacers have a numerical edge
First, the home-court wins and losses for every NBA team since the start of the 1999-2000 season were totaled. (If a team has moved into a new arena since that season, we only counted the wins and losses in the current home arena. Our Oklahoma City Thunder totals don’t include results from the franchise’s days in Seattle).
If you’re doing the math along with us, you’ll see the San Antonio Spurs have the NBA’s best overall home-court record since 1999-2000 with a .713 home winning percentage. Indiana is 12th at .626.
How can we claim the Pacers have the best home-court advantage in the East? Remember, better teams will naturally have better records at home or away, so home-court record alone doesn’t truly measure home-court advantage. We took it one step further and compared each team’s home-court winning percentage against their overall winning percentage to see which teams benefited the most from playing in their own arena.
Boom! Indiana rises to the top of that list. Here’s the full top 10, listed by the difference between a team’s winning percentage at home and their overall winning percentage.
Team | Difference between win %s |
|---|---|
Denver Nuggets | +11.9% |
Utah Jazz | +11.1% |
Indiana Pacers | +10.7% |
Atlanta Hawks | +10.6% |
Cleveland Cavaliers | +9.8% |
Portland Trail Blazers | +9.6% |
San Antonio Spurs | +8.9% |
Washington Wizards | +8.6% |
LA Clippers | +8.5% |
Miami Heat | +8.5% |
If you factor in that the Denver and Utah numbers are probably due to the respective cities’ literal environment - 5,280 feet above sea level for Denver, 4,330 for Salt Lake City - and not because of the home-arena environment, then the Pacers have a case for the best home-court edge in the entire NBA.
The overall NBA average difference in home winning percentage compared to overall winning percentage is .083. In plain English, that means home-court advantage has been worth about one extra win per season for Indiana in its ever-evolving building since 1999-2000.
Surprising numbers
It seems the 1999-2000 season was a great time to build an NBA arena. Four NBA teams moved into new homes that season – more than any other year. Three teams that opened new arenas that season - Denver, Indiana, and Atlanta - made the top four on our list. The fourth - the Los Angeles Lakers - just missed the top 10 at No. 11.
If you’re wondering, the Sacramento Kings have the worst home-court advantage in the NBA. The Kings’ winning percentage is just 3.1 percent better at home than on the road since they moved into their current home in 2016.
The Brooklyn Nets have the least effective home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference, with a winning percentage just 4.7 percent better at home than on the road.
The Philadelphia 76ers rank last for home-court winning percentage differential among teams that have played in the same arena since the 1999-2000.
Surprisingly, a couple of franchises you would expect to see near the top of the list – the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder – rank closer to the bottom at No. 25 and No. 26, respectively.
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