{"id":705180,"date":"2026-04-08T12:29:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705180\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:29:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:29:35","slug":"how-does-nba-play-in-tournament-work-format-and-current-standings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705180\/","title":{"rendered":"How does NBA Play-In Tournament work? Format and current standings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The final week of the 2025-26 NBA<\/a> regular season is upon us, and the race to solidify playoff seeding is in full swing. Teams across both conferences are battling for position, with first-round matchups and play-in tournament spots still very much up for grabs.<\/p>\n

In the Western Conference, the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>, sit at the top and could take the No. 1 seed for the third consecutive season, with the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> close behind at No. 2. With just three games remaining, the play-in picture is far from settled, and every win or loss carries serious weight.<\/p>\n

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In the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons<\/a> clinched the No. 1 seed with the Boston Celtics<\/a> at currently at No. 2. Remaining game could still shift conference seedings.<\/p>\n

With the regular season winding down, the playoff picture is still taking shape. Here is how things currently stand and who would be in the play-in tournament if the season ended today.<\/p>\n

More: NBA power rankings: Where do Lakers go with Luka Don\u010di\u0107 injury?<\/a><\/p>\n

1 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 26: The Dallas Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg dunks the ball past the Toronto Raptors’ Sandro Mamukelashvili at the American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n

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1 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 26: The Dallas Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg dunks the ball past the Toronto Raptors’ Sandro Mamukelashvili at the American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

2 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 26: The Washington Wizards’ Cam Whitmore dunks the ball against the Charlotte Hornets at Capital One Arena.<\/p>\n

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3 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 26: The Brooklyn Nets’ Michael Porter Jr. dunks in front of the San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama at Frost Bank Center.<\/p>\n

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4 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 25: The Denver Nuggets’ Christian Braun dunks the ball against the Phoenix Suns’ Grayson Allen at Ball Arena.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

5 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 24: The Memphis Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. dunks against the Miami Heat at FedExForum.<\/p>\n

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6 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 24: The Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo dunks over the Memphis Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. at FedExForum.<\/p>\n

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7 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 22: The New York Knicks’ OG Anunoby goes up for a reverse dunk against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

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8 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 22: The Utah Jazz’s Lauri Markkanen dunks against the Los Angeles Clippers at Delta Center.<\/p>\n

How does the NBA play-in tournament work?<\/p>\n

The NBA Play-In Tournament tips off Tuesday, April 14, and runs through Friday, April 17, with all six games streaming exclusively on Prime Video.<\/p>\n

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The No. 7 through No. 10 seeds in each conference battle for the final two playoff spots per conference, while the top six seeds lock automatic berths.<\/p>\n

The NBA Playoffs start on Saturday, April 18, as 16 teams, eight per conference, compete through a best-of-seven bracket to crown a champion.<\/p>\n

Game 1 of the NBA Finals is set for Wednesday, June 3, on ABC.<\/p>\n

NBA Play-In Tournament bracket<\/p>\n

The NBA play-in tournament standings after games played on Tuesday, April 7:<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Western Conference<\/p>\n

(7) Phoenix Suns vs. (8) LA Clippers<\/p>\n

(9) Portland Trail Blazers vs. (10) Golden State Warriors<\/p>\n

Eastern Conference<\/p>\n

(7) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (8) Orlando Magic<\/p>\n

(9) Charlotte Hornets vs. (10) Miami Heat<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is NBA Play-In Tournament? Format and current standings<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The final week of the 2025-26 NBA regular season is upon us, and the race to solidify playoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,75,473,559,777,188,1409,164,4034,192,4032,300,251,135,4033,4031,368,189,6,11,179,76,207,472,88313,471,474,574],"class_list":{"0":"post-705180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston-celtics","10":"tag-charlotte-hornets","11":"tag-clippers","12":"tag-conference","13":"tag-detroit-pistons","14":"tag-eastern-conference","15":"tag-golden-state-warriors","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-la-clippers","18":"tag-laclippers","19":"tag-lakers","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","22":"tag-losangeles","23":"tag-losangelesclippers","24":"tag-luka-doncic","25":"tag-miami-heat","26":"tag-nba","27":"tag-nba-playoffs","28":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","29":"tag-orlando-magic","30":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","31":"tag-phoenix-suns","32":"tag-playoff-spots","33":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","34":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","35":"tag-western-conference"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116369095698214514","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}