Play‑In starts Tuesday
The 2026 NBA Play‑In Tournament begins Tuesday with the teams that finished 7th through 10th in each conference competing for the final two playoff spots. (sports.yahoo.com) The league has shifted broadcast rights so the entire Play‑In will stream on Prime Video this year, with later playoff rounds split among ESPN/ABC, NBC/Peacock and Prime Video. (sportingnews.com)
The National Basketball Association Play-In Tournament opens Tuesday, April 14, with eight teams chasing the last four spots in the 2026 playoffs. (nba.com) The Eastern Conference games Tuesday are Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and the Western Conference game is Portland Trail Blazers at Phoenix Suns at 10 p.m. Eastern. Wednesday’s games are Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Clippers at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and Orlando Magic at Philadelphia 76ers at 10 p.m. Eastern. (nba.com) The format gives the No. 7 and No. 8 teams in each conference two chances to reach the playoffs, while the No. 9 and No. 10 teams face an elimination game first. The winners of the 7-8 games take the No. 7 seeds, and the winners of Friday’s final play-in games take the No. 8 seeds. (nba.com) The final standings set those matchups at Suns 45-37 against Trail Blazers 42-40, Clippers 42-40 against Warriors 37-45, 76ers 45-37 against Magic 45-37, and Hornets 44-38 against Heat 43-39. Oklahoma City and San Antonio earned the top two seeds in the West, while Detroit and Boston finished first and second in the East. (nba.com) This year’s play-in is also the first one carried entirely by Prime Video. The league’s 2025 media-rights deal shifted early-round playoff inventory across Prime Video, ESPN and ABC, and NBC with Peacock, with the play-in window landing exclusively on Amazon’s service. (sportingnews.com) The play-in has been part of the league’s postseason since the 2020 bubble and became a permanent feature in 2022. It was created to keep more teams in contention late in the season and reduce incentives to lose games for draft position. (nba.com) Friday, April 17 closes the tournament with the Hornets-Heat winner visiting the loser of 76ers-Magic at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and the Clippers-Warriors winner visiting the loser of Suns-Trail Blazers at 10 p.m. Eastern. The first round of the playoffs begins Saturday, April 18. (nba.com)
