Southeast Division (NBA)

The Southeast Division is one of the three divisions in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The division consists of five teams, the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets, the Miami Heat, the Orlando Magic, and the Washington Wizards.

The division was created at the start of the 2004–05 season, when the league expanded from 29 to 30 teams with the addition of the Charlotte Bobcats. The league realigned itself into three divisions in each conference. The Southeast Division began with five inaugural members, the Hawks, the Bobcats, the Heat, the Magic and the Wizards. The Hawks joined from the Central Division, while the Heat, the Magic and the Wizards joined from the Atlantic Division. The Bobcats changed their name to the Hornets effective the 2014–15 season, after which it assumed the history of the original Hornets from 1988–2002. The Hornets name was previously used by the now-New Orleans Pelicans from 2002–2013.

Since its inception, only the Florida-based franchises have won any Southeast Division titles. Coincidentally, both Miami and Orlando have won three division titles in a row, with Miami accomplishing that feat twice (first from 2005-2007, and later from 2011-2013). Miami is the only team to have won the Southeast Division in four consecutive seasons, doing so from 2011-2014. As of 2014, the Heat are the only Southeast Division team to have won an NBA championship. Miami's three championships (2006, 2012, and 2013) each came after winning the Southeast Division.

The division's geography largely coincides with the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the premiere conferences in college basketball, as all five of the division's teams are within the ACC footprint, in fact Atlanta, Miami and Washington are located in metro areas with ACC members (however the ACC's lone member in the Washington, D.C. area will be leaving in 2014).