Playoffs locked, play‑in starts
The NBA regular season has finished its final day and the 2026 postseason officially begins April 14 with a three‑day SoFi play‑in tournament — the league says all 20 postseason teams have clinched spots even while some seeds still move. (espn.com) CBS Sports noted that 11 teams had already clinched direct playoff berths entering the last day, leaving the weekend to sort final seeding and play‑in positioning. (cbssports.com)
The National Basketball Association regular season ends Sunday, April 12, and the postseason starts two days later with the SoFi play-in tournament. (nba.com) The league’s play-in runs from Tuesday, April 14, through Friday, April 17, and the first round of the playoffs opens Saturday, April 18. Game 1 of the 2026 National Basketball Association Finals is scheduled for June 3 on American Broadcasting Company. (nba.com) The format is narrower than the full playoff field: teams that finish first through sixth in each conference go straight into the bracket, while teams that finish seventh through 10th fight for the last two spots. The seventh-place team hosts the eighth-place team for the No. 7 seed, and the ninth-place team hosts the 10th-place team in an elimination game. (nba.com) The losers and winners then cross once more. The loser of the 7-versus-8 game gets one more home game against the winner of the 9-versus-10 game, and that winner takes the No. 8 seed. (nba.com) As of Sunday, the top of the bracket was mostly in place. The Detroit Pistons led the Eastern Conference at 58-22, and the Oklahoma City Thunder led the Western Conference at 64-16, according to the latest ESPN standings page. (espn.com) In the East, the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers had also secured top-four positions, while the Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors were in fifth and sixth entering the last day. The Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat occupied the four play-in spots. (espn.com) In the West, the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves were sitting behind Oklahoma City in the top six before the final games ended. The Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors were in the play-in positions. (espn.com) The National Basketball Association’s own play-in page showed one Western Conference matchup already narrowed down before the regular season closed: Phoenix at No. 7 would face either the Clippers or Trail Blazers at No. 8, and the Clippers or Trail Blazers would then drop into the 9-versus-10 side with Golden State. The Eastern Conference pairings were still listed as to be determined. (nba.com) The schedule also changes where fans will need to watch. National Basketball Association.com said all six play-in games will air exclusively on Prime Video, with exact matchups locked in after the standings are finalized. (nba.com) By Sunday morning, CBS Sports reported that one playoff spot and 10 postseason seeds were still unsettled on the season’s final day, even with most of the field already clinched. By Tuesday night, the guessing ends and the elimination games begin. (cbssports.com)
