NBA Play-In Tournament update: Mavs fall out of playoffs; Lakers move to 8th

As we check in with the NBA Play-In Tournament projections, the Dallas Mavericks are free falling and the Los Angeles Lakers are moving up.

There are roughly only two weeks remaining before the start of the NBA’s Play-In Tournament. And with every passing day, we’re getting a clearer and clearer picture of what it could look like once it begins.

The Eastern Conference is pretty clear at this point but the Western Conference is still very much cluttered. And one storyline that is beginning to develop out West is the free fall that the Dallas Mavericks are currently on. Over the last few weeks, the Mavs have taken a nose-dive down the West standings and it’s officially time to be concerned.

The Dallas Mavericks have fallen out of the NBA Play-In Tournament

With just two weeks before the start of the postseason, the Mavs currently find themselves out of the top 10 in the West standings. That means if the NBA Play-In Tournament started today, the Mavs would be out of the postseason.

Considering that this is a team that was in the Western Conference Finals just last season, this would be a complete disappointment and collapse. Especially when you consider this team made the all-in move of trading for Kyrie Irving at the NBA Trade Deadline.

Here is an updated look at where the NBA Play-In Tournament stands as of today in the East

In the Eastern Conference, the playoff picture is a bit clearer. The top 5 teams are pretty much set. The race for the sixth seed still needs to be settled and it has come down to either the Miami Heat or Brooklyn Nets. The 8-10 seeds are pretty much locked in. The exact order needs to be settled but it seems that it will be some variation of the Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks, and Toronto Raptors.

This is how the East officially stands entering this weekend’s games:

6. Miami Heat (40-34)

7. Brooklyn Nets (39-34) 

8. Atlanta Hawks (36-37)

9. Toronto Raptors (36-38)

10. Chicago Bulls (35-38)

Here is an updated look at where the NBA Play-In Tournament stands as of today in the West

Aside from the Mavericks currently out of the NBA Play-In Tournament picture, the Los Angeles Lakers are the other big storyline. The Lakers have climbed to 8th in the standings and there’s at least an outside chance that they can climb to the 6th spot.

With two weeks of games left, here is how the West standings are:

6. Golden State Warriors (39-36)

7. Minnesota Timberwolves (37-37)

8. Los Angeles Lakers (37-37)

9. New Orleans Pelicans (36-37)

10. Oklahoma City Thunder (36-38)

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11. Dallas Mavericks (36-38)

It’ll be interesting to see how the race in the West finishes and there will certainly be huge implications from it that will end up impacting the offseason.