Playoffs locked — stars listed

The 2026 National Basketball Association playoff field is set, with 16 teams locked in and the play-in tournament deciding the last first-round spots. (espn.com) The regular season ended Sunday, April 12, with Detroit and Oklahoma City finishing as the No. 1 seeds. ESPN’s standings showed the Pistons at 60-22 in the East and the Thunder at 64-18 in the West. (espn.com) In the East, Boston, New York, Cleveland, Toronto and Atlanta claimed guaranteed playoff spots behind Detroit. In the West, San Antonio, Denver, the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston and Minnesota joined Oklahoma City in the top six. (espn.com) The play-in tournament fills the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds in each conference through a four-team mini-bracket between the teams that finished seventh through 10th. The seventh-place team hosts the eighth-place team for one playoff berth, and the winner of the ninth-versus-10th game gets one more chance at the final spot. (usatoday.com) That format turned late regular-season positioning into immediate knockout games this week. Yahoo Sports reported that Philadelphia and Orlando were pushed into the East play-in after Toronto grabbed the No. 5 seed on the final day. (sports.yahoo.com) ESPN is tracking the full postseason bracket, schedule, scores and highlights as the first round begins. The National Basketball Association also launched its 2026 Pick’Em Bracket Challenge after the bracket was finalized. (espn.com) (nba.com) ESPN also published a postseason ranking built around impact rather than regular-season awards voting. Zach Kram’s top five were Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, LeBron James, Cade Cunningham, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. (espn.com) That list puts the spotlight on both established stars and a new contender in Detroit. MLive noted that Cunningham’s placement near the top came with the Pistons entering the postseason as the East’s No. 1 seed after the franchise’s third 60-win season. (mlive.com) Full-game highlight packages from recent play-in games are already live on YouTube, including Orlando against Philadelphia, Miami against Charlotte, and Golden State against the Los Angeles Clippers. Those videos give fans a way to catch up on the elimination games that finished shaping the bracket. (youtube.com 1) (youtube.com 2) (youtube.com 3) The postseason now moves from seeding math to seven-game series, with every result feeding into the bracket ESPN is updating round by round. The teams are set, the stars are ranked, and the first-round scoreboard is live. (espn.com)