Play‑In — Final Night
Tonight is the last night of the NBA Play‑In Tournament and it will lock the final two No. 8 seeds before the full playoff bracket begins Saturday, April 18. (Yahoo Sports, Sporting News) (sports.yahoo.com) (
Friday night sets the last two spots in the 2026 National Basketball Association playoff bracket, with Orlando playing Charlotte for the East No. 8 seed and Phoenix playing Golden State for the West No. 8 seed. (nba.com) The games are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Eastern and 10 p.m. Eastern on April 17, and both are win-or-go-home play-in games. The winners move into the first round that starts Saturday, April 18. (nba.com) The Eastern matchup formed after Philadelphia beat Orlando 109-97 on Wednesday to claim the No. 7 seed, while Charlotte reached Friday by beating Miami 127-126 in overtime on Tuesday. In the West, Portland beat Phoenix 114-110 on Tuesday for the No. 7 seed, and Golden State advanced by beating the Los Angeles Clippers 126-121 on Wednesday. (nba.com) The play-in uses the teams that finished seventh through 10th in each conference. The 7-8 game sends its winner straight to the playoffs as the No. 7 seed, and the 9-10 game eliminates its loser immediately. (sports.yahoo.com) That leaves one last step on Friday: the loser of the 7-8 game gets a second chance against the winner of the 9-10 game, with the No. 8 seed on the line. Orlando is using that second chance in the East, and Phoenix is using it in the West. (sports.yahoo.com) The bracket is already partly filled in. Philadelphia is locked into a first-round series against Boston as the East No. 7 seed, and Portland is locked into a first-round series against San Antonio as the West No. 7 seed. (nba.com) Friday’s winners will not get much time before the postseason opens. The East No. 8 seed will face Detroit on Sunday, April 19, and the West No. 8 seed will face Oklahoma City on Sunday, April 19. (nba.com) This is also the first year the entire play-in tournament has streamed exclusively on Prime Video, after previous editions aired on ESPN and TNT. Yahoo Sports listed Prime Video as the only outlet for both Friday games. (sportingnews.com) (sports.yahoo.com) By the end of Friday night, the 16-team field will be complete. Saturday brings four Game 1s, and Sunday brings the two series that still need opponents tonight. (nba.com)
