2023 NBA Play-In Tournament Update: East is locked up; Lakers streaking

Heading into the final week of the regular season, we check in with what the NBA Play-In Tournament picture looks like.

Just like that, we are officially in the final week of the regular season. Most teams have between 3-4 games remaining before the start of the NBA Postseason. And this year, the postseason will begin with the NBA Play-In Tournament. Four teams in each conference will play for the final two playoff seeds.

And even though there are only a few games left in the regular season, the Play-In Tournament teams are not officially set in the Western Conference. In the East, it almost certainly is.

The Eastern Conference NBA Play-In Tournament playoff picture

The four teams that are set to participate in the Play-In Tournament are pretty much set. There’s still some seeding that needs to be established, but the East is a lot clearer compared to the West.

Here is what the East’s Play-In Tournament picture looks like:

7. Miami Heat (41-37) 

8. Atlanta Hawks (39-39)

9. Toronto Raptors (39-39)

10. Chicago Bulls (38-40)

Those four teams will be fighting, in some order, for the final two spots in the East.

The West is a bit more complicated, however.

The Western Conference NBA Play-In Tournament playoff picture

The Los Angeles Lakers have really hit their stride recently and could even qualify as the sixth seed. With a few games left, they are just a half-game back of the Golden State Warriors (a team that the Lakers own the head-to-head tiebreaker over). At the very least, it’s something to revisit later in the week.

After that, there’s a collection of teams fighting for positioning heading into the final week of the season. The Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks are still trying to catch the Oklahoma City Thunder for the 10th and final spot in the Play-In Tournament as well.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Mavs or Jazz can catch the Thunder, but they’re certainly not in a great position as the last week of the regular season gets underway.

At the moment, here’s how the bottom of the West standings looks:

5. LA Clippers ((41-38)

6. Golden State Warriors (41-38)

……………………………………………………………

7. Los Angeles Lakers (40-38) 

8. New Orleans Pelicans (40-38)

9. Minnesota Timberwolves (39-40)

10. Oklahoma City Thunder (38-41) 

……………………………………………………………

11. Dallas Mavericks (37-42)

12. Utah Jazz (36-42) 

The NBA Play-In Tournament begins next week, Tuesday, April 11, and will officially conclude Friday, April 14. The official start of the NBA Playoffs begins next Saturday, April 15.

Even though we’re in the final week of the regular season, there is still much to be played for before we get to the start of the NBA Playoffs.