NBA season finale today
The NBA regular season ends today, April 12, with all 30 teams scheduled to play — a synchronous finish that will settle the final playoff seeding (sports.yahoo.com). CBS Sports reported that 11 teams had already clinched playoff spots entering the final day, leaving the rest of the field and seeding to be decided by tonight’s results (cbssports.com). The playoffs are slated to begin on Saturday, April 18, and the NBA Finals are scheduled to start June 3, with the series finish expected between June 10 and June 17 depending on outcomes (northjersey.com).
The National Basketball Association regular season ends Sunday, April 12, with all 30 teams playing and playoff seeding still unsettled. (nba.com) The league scheduled 15 games for the finale, with seven tipping at 3 p.m. Eastern and the other eight at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. ESPN’s schedule lists every team in action, from Orlando at Boston to Sacramento at Portland. (espn.com) National Basketball Association.com said Sunday morning that the SoFi Play-In Tournament runs April 14 through April 17, and the first round of the playoffs starts April 18. Game 1 of the 2026 National Basketball Association Finals is scheduled for June 3. (nba.com) CBS Sports reported that 11 teams had already clinched playoff berths entering the day, while one playoff spot and 10 postseason seeds were still to be decided by Sunday’s results. National Basketball Association.com separately said its standings page would keep tracking clinching, seeding and elimination scenarios through the day. (cbssports.com) (nba.com) The synchronized finish is designed to limit scoreboard watching and late-season gaming because teams in both conferences start in two tight windows instead of staggered all day. That format pushes playoff races, play-in positioning and first-round matchups to the final night. (usatoday.com) (cbssports.com) The play-in field is also part of what is at stake Sunday. National Basketball Association.com’s published postseason calendar says the teams that finish seventh through 10th in each conference move into the April 14-17 play-in round for the last two playoff spots. (nba.com) Yahoo Sports reported that the conference finals are scheduled to begin May 19 in the East and May 20 in the West. The same schedule puts the Finals on a June 3 start, with the series extending into mid-June if it goes long. (sports.yahoo.com) By Sunday night, the 82-game regular season will be over and the bracket will narrow from a standings race to a postseason field. Two days later, the play-in games begin. (nba.com)
