The 1987 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1986-87 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals. The Lakers earned their 10th NBA championship, and Magic Johnson was named NBA Finals MVP for a then-record third time.

Before 2008, this was the last time the Celtics and Lakers met in the NBA Finals, though Boston threatened in 2002, making it to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Nets in 6 games.

By making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons advanced farther in the playoffs than they had in the past 25 years. They would make their first NBA Finals appearance since 1956 the following season, the first of 3 straight trips to the Finals (winning the last 2).

The Warriors & Pacers made their first playoff appearances since 1977 and 1981. The Pacers also won their first NBA playoff game, in Game 3 of their first-round series against the Hawks.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs is a best-of-seven elimination tournament among sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference (called Divisions, pre-1970), ultimately deciding the final four teams who will play in the NBA Conference Finals.

The NBA announced the current revised playoff seeding system on August 3, 2006. Following the NBA regular season, eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs and are seeded one to eight.

The team that has the best record in each of the three divisions in each conference is declared division champion. The three champions, and another team in the conference with the best record, are seeded one through four by their records. This guarantees that the division champions will be no lower than fourth seed, and also ensures that a conference's two best teams (by record) are ranked as the top two. However, because the NBA does not re-seed its teams and because home court advantage goes to the team with the better record, not the better seeding, division winners are guaranteed no better than a de-facto five seed, as their 4th seeding does not guarantee home court advantage in the first round, and after the first round the 4 vs 5 winner will play the same teams as the loser would have played had they won the first round. This will continue throughout the remainder of the playoffs and to the finals until the 4 vs 5 winner loses a playoff round or wins the championship. Of the remaining eleven conference teams, the four with the best records are seeded fifth through eighth based on their record.