Play‑In Starts April 14

The National Basketball Association Play-In Tournament opens Tuesday, April 14, with six games over four days to decide the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds in both conferences. (nba.com) The league’s official postseason calendar sets the play-in for April 14 through April 17, one day after the regular season ends on Sunday, April 12. The first round of the playoffs starts Saturday, April 18, and Game 1 of the National Basketball Association Finals is scheduled for June 3. (nba.com) The format keeps teams ranked seventh through 10th in each conference alive. The seventh-place team hosts the eighth-place team for the No. 7 seed, while the ninth-place team hosts the 10th-place team in an elimination game; the last playoff berth goes to the winner of a final game between the 7-8 loser and the 9-10 winner. (nba.com) The National Basketball Association has already posted the game windows. Tuesday’s games are set for 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time in the East and 10 p.m. Eastern Time in the West, with the same windows used Wednesday for the 9-versus-10 games and Friday for the final play-in games. (nba.com) All six play-in games will stream exclusively on Prime Video, a change the league listed on its official 2026 playoff schedule. That means the tournament now serves as both a postseason gateway and one of the first high-stakes tests of the National Basketball Association’s new media-rights setup. (nba.com) As of Sunday morning, the West had one firm matchup and one race still unresolved. Phoenix was locked into the No. 7 spot, Golden State was locked into No. 10, and the Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers were still tied in the standings for the remaining seventh-through-ninth slots shown on the league’s play-in bracket. (nba.com) The East picture was also still moving entering the final day. Orlando sat seventh, Philadelphia eighth, Charlotte ninth, and Miami 10th on the league’s live bracket, while seeds above them were already slotted into the main playoff field. (nba.com) Sunday’s regular-season finale was built to settle those last positions with all 30 teams on the schedule. The National Basketball Association listed 15 games on April 12, with eight tipping at 3 p.m. Eastern Time and seven more at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time. (nba.com) By Friday night, the bracket will be complete and four teams will be out. By Saturday, April 18, the league moves from the play-in’s single-game pressure to full best-of-seven playoff series. (nba.com)