With 81 games in the books for every NBA team, there’s still plenty to play for heading into Sunday, the final day of regular-season action.
Even after 1,215 games have been played, there are still several positions in both the playoff and lottery standings that remain up for grabs as all 30 teams take the floor for their 82nd and final game of the season.
For some teams, it’ll mark the beginning of the offseason and the wait to see where the pingpong balls will land in the NBA draft lottery on May 12. For others, it’s just the beginning of what they hope will be a two-month-long odyssey through the playoffs that will end with one team raising the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
With all of that in mind, here’s what’s at stake as the regular season comes to a close, beginning in the wide-open West:
Jump to a section:
West | East
Draft lottery
Western Conference
Who’s locked in?
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder have long been locked into the top spot not just in the conference, but in the NBA, and they are guaranteed home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. With a victory Sunday in New Orleans, they would become the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 68 games in a season.
2. Houston Rockets
Like OKC, the Rockets have been settled into the second spot for some time now, capping off one of the most impressive and surprising campaigns in the NBA by locking in home-court advantage across the opening two rounds. Houston will have a major part to play in how the rest of things shake out, however (more on this below).
3. Los Angeles Lakers
With Friday’s win over Houston, the Lakers are locked into the third seed. But the Lakers, like the Thunder and Rockets ahead of them, are waiting for the chaos to shake out in the bottom of the West bracket.
What’s left to be decided
In short: everything else!
4. Denver Nuggets
Denver controls its destiny. If the Nuggets beat the Rockets — who are locked into the No. 2 seed — a chaotic week for the franchise will end with securing home-court advantage in the first round.
5. LA Clippers
It’s a similar path for the Clippers, who won in Sacramento on Friday to put themselves on the verge of locking in a playoff spot. Unlike Denver, however, the Clippers have a much tougher test ahead: a game in San Francisco against the Warriors.
A win, coupled with a Denver loss, means the Clippers would be fourth. A win and a Denver win means the Clippers would face the Nuggets in the first round. A loss would likely push the Clippers into the play-in.
6. Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves would have been in position for home-court advantage had they not given up a 24-point second-half lead to the Bucks earlier this week. Still, if Minnesota can beat the Utah Jazz, they will guarantee a top-six spot in the West. (And, thanks to season sweeps over the Nuggets and Clippers, Minnesota could grab the fourth seed if both teams in front of them lose Sunday.)
Now, here’s where things get complicated, as the late slate of games will decide who stays out of the West play-in.
7. Golden State Warriors
The Warriors, like the Wolves, have their own game to kick themselves over heading into the final day, after Harrison Barnes hit a game-winning 3-pointer to beat his former team Wednesday night. Still, after beating Portland on Friday, Golden State enters Sunday needing a win to guarantee a top-six spot in the West.
If the Warriors and Wolves win, the Wolves would finish fifth, the Warriors sixth and the Clippers seventh, by virtue of head-to-head record between the three teams.
Golden State, thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker over Memphis, can’t finish lower than seventh, securing at least the chance to host the first play-in game.
8. Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies had a chance to create an even bigger standings mess by defeating the Nuggets on Friday night. That loss, however, means the Grizzlies — who host Dallas — need help to get out of the eighth spot.
Now Memphis cannot escape the play-in. But the Grizzlies can move into seventh if Minnesota loses to the cellar-dwelling Jazz. Memphis will either travel to Golden State or host Minnesota, as the Wolves would finish eighth in that potential three-way tie.
9. Sacramento Kings, 10. Dallas Mavericks
Let’s get to the (relatively) simple equation for the West’s final two postseason spots.
The Kings and Mavericks enter Sunday tied in the standings after the Kings lost to the LA Clippers and the Mavericks beat the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.
The Kings, however, control their destiny. By sweeping the Mavericks in the regular season, Sacramento needs a win over Phoenix — or a Dallas loss — to secure a home game for the 9-10 play-in matchup.
Eastern Conference
What’s locked in:
Everything! Remarkably, Friday’s results locked in all 10 spots in the East postseason:
1. Cleveland Cavaliers
2. Boston Celtics
3. New York Knicks
4. Indiana Pacers
5. Milwaukee Bucks
6. Detroit Pistons
7. Orlando Magic
8. Atlanta Hawks
9. Chicago Bulls
10. Miami Heat
Draft lottery standings
1/2. Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards
After the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards both lost Friday, they enter Sunday’s action tied for the league’s worst record at 17-64. If the two teams finish tied — Utah plays in Minnesota, while Washington plays in Miami — a coin flip will determine which team will slot in higher if neither moves up in the draft (the top three teams in the lottery all have the same odds, so that won’t change either way).
3. Charlotte Hornets
4. New Orleans Pelicans
5. Philadelphia 76ers
6. Brooklyn Nets
7. Toronto Raptors
8. San Antonio Spurs
The next six teams behind the Jazz and Wizards are all locked into position. The team impacted the most by that is Philadelphia, which locked itself officially into the fifth spot despite its loss to Atlanta on Friday. Philadelphia will now keep its top-six protected first-round pick unless multiple teams behind the 76ers jump them in next month’s draft lottery. If that happens, and the pick lands at No. 7 or lower, it will go to the Oklahoma City Thunder as part of the Al Horford-Danny Green trade five years ago.
9/10. Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns
On the final day of the regular season, the Blazers are playing the Lakers, who are locked into the No. 3 seed, and the Suns are playing the Kings, who are fighting for playoff positioning. If both teams lose, a coin flip will determine which of them will pick ahead of the other in the lottery if neither moves up, though the pingpong balls will be evenly split between them.
Phoenix, however, doesn’t control its draft pick. The Houston Rockets acquired it from the Brooklyn Nets last offseason in a deal that gave Brooklyn back control of its 2025 and 2026 picks. Houston could wind up with a better pick than Brooklyn in this year’s draft with some moderate lottery luck.
11. Miami Heat
The Heat are in an interesting position: nothing to play for in the standings as far as moving out of 10th, giving them every reason to lose to Washington and ensure they stay in the 11th lottery spot. Washington, however, is also incentivized to lock in its own draft positioning.
12. Chicago Bulls
13. Atlanta Hawks
14. Dallas Mavericks
15. Sacramento Kings
The Kings owe the Hawks their pick if it lands outside the top 12. But if the Kings beat the Suns and lock themselves into the ninth spot in the play-in standings, losses by the Hawks and Mavericks would mean Sacramento will pick no higher than 13th if the Kings don’t advance out of the play-in.
A loss by the Kings would put them in position to keep their pick — either outright, if Atlanta or Dallas wins, or via coin flip if they lose. It also could become a four-way tie if the Bulls win and the Hawks, Mavericks and Kings all lose. That scenario would give Sacramento up to three chances to move up via coin flip and keep its pick.
16. Orlando Magic
Source link
