The Golden State Warriors have won three straight and look dangerous heading into the Play-In, led by Stephen Curry and Kristaps Porzingis. But despite their scoring, experience, and star power, the Los Angeles Clippers look like the most dangerous team in the NBA Play-In.
As of Monday, March 30, the Golden State Warriors sit 10th in the West at 36-39, behind the Phoenix Suns (41-33), Los Angeles Clippers (39-36), and Portland Trail Blazers (38-38).
They have at least steadied themselves lately, though, winning three straight against Dallas, Brooklyn, and Washington after a brutal East road trip.
The Steph Curry Factor in A Play-In Game Scenario
That recent bounce is enough to reopen a debate: who really wants to see Stephen Curry in a one-game scenario?
That is why the Warriors still qualify as dangerous.
Curry is averaging 27.2 points and 4.8 assists this season, and Kristaps Porzingis has given Golden State another high-level scoring option at 17.1 points per game.
Even after Jimmy Butler suffered a season-ending ACL injury, the Warriors still have shot-making, spacing, and veteran poise that matter in elimination basketball.
Credit AP – Scanpix
Their recent wins were not pretty masterpieces, but they showed the formula: enough offense, enough experience, and enough star gravity to turn a messy game into a survival test.
But being dangerous is not the same thing as being the most dangerous. That is where Golden State’s overall body of work pushes back.
Since January 1, the Warriors are just 16-22.
The Clippers as the Most Dangerous NBA Play-In Team
If I had to pick the team nobody should want in the Play-In right now, it would be the Clippers.
They are only eighth in the standings, but they have been much stronger than Golden State over the longer recent sample, and Kawhi Leonard is playing elite basketball.
Leonard is averaging 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists, and LA has won four straight, beating Dallas, Milwaukee, Toronto, and Indiana after a rough mini-skid.
The most impressive part is that the Clippers kept their level after trading James Harden to Cleveland for Darius Garland at the February deadline.
When a team survives that kind of shake-up and still keeps winning behind a healthy Kawhi, it starts to look less like a Play-In team and more like a playoff matchup nobody wants.
Credit Getty Images via AFP – Scanpix
Suns and Blazers: Dangerous but Inconsistent
Phoenix and Portland make the picture more interesting, but neither changes my answer.
The Suns still have top-end talent, and Booker is averaging 25.5 points and 5.9 assists, yet their recent form has been shaky: before Saturday’s game against Utah, they had lost five of their last six, with the only win coming against Toronto.
That looks more volatile than terrifying. Portland, meanwhile, might be the most underrated story of the bunch.
The Blazers are 22-17 since January 1. Deni Avdija is posting 24.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 6.7 assists, and Donovan Clingan is giving them 12.4 points and 11.8 boards.
They also won five of eight before Friday’s loss to Dallas. But as good as Portland’s rise has been, there is still a difference between being feisty and being the team rivals genuinely fear in a playoff setting.
Credit AP Photo/Amanda Loman
Even if you widen the lens beyond the West, the Golden State still does not quite get there for me.
Charlotte’s 27-12 record since January 1 is one of the league’s best turnarounds, and Philadelphia is 22-19 in 2026 while trying to stay afloat around Joel Embiid.
Those teams deserve mention.
But if the question is about the scariest current Play-In profile, I still come back to the same answer: the Clippers have the best combination of recent results, star power, and postseason-style shot creation.
Nojus Stankevičius began his basketball writing journey in 2023, when he started studying Journalism at Vilnius University. In 2024, he participated in the BasketNews Academy. Then, a year later, in 2025, he officially joined BasketNews as a Daily Writer, marking the beginning of his professional career in sports journalism.
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