There were only three games in the NBA on Thursday night, with the headline one being the Hornets' win over the Knicks, which really helped Boston's cause in hanging onto the East's No. 2 seed. Boston leads New York by two games with one head-to-head matchup remaining. The Knicks would have clinched a playoff spot with a win. 

In the West, No. 4 Denver, No. 5 Minnesota and No. 6 Houston are all bunched up, though the Rockets took a bad loss to Minnesota on Wednesday and appear to be fading. 

The Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons are the only teams to have clinched a playoff spot so far. 

The final day of the regular season will be on Sunday, April 12. Between now and then, we will be updating this playoff picture each day to keep you up to date on the standings, important magic numbers, all relevant tiebreakers and our SportsLine projections. 

Here is where we stand entering play on Friday, March 27. 

*Tiebreaker note: All tiebreakers are included for teams currently within one game (or one seed) of each other, but will only be listed in the current higher seed's section.

2026 NBA Playoff Picture

If the season ended today...

Play-In Tournament

East first round
No. 1 Pistons vs. No. 8 TBD
No. 2 Celtics vs. No. 7 TBD
No. 3 Knicks vs. No. 6 Raptors
No. 4 Cavaliers vs. No. 5 Hawks

West first round
No. 1 Thunder vs. No. 8 TBD
No. 2 Spurs vs. No. 7 TBD
No. 3 Lakers vs. No. 6 Rockets
No. 4 Nuggets vs. No. 5 Timberolves

Western Conference standings

As mentioned above, Oklahoma City and San Antonio have both clinched a playoff spot. The No. 2 Spurs still have an outside shot to catch the No. 1 Thunder, but one way or another, those are going to be the top two teams, with the Lakers in pretty firm control of the No. 3 seed. After that, the No. 4 Nuggets, No. 5 Wolves and No. 6 Rockets are coming down to the wire. 

1. Oklahoma City Thunder (57-16)

• Tiebreaker vs. Spurs: Spurs clinched
• SportsLine projection: No. 1 seed

2. San Antonio Spurs (55-18)

• SportsLine projection: No. 2 seed

3. Los Angeles Lakers (47-26)

• Tiebreaker vs. Nuggets: Lakers clinched
• Tiebreaker vs. Wolves: Lakers clinched
• Tiebreaker vs. Rockets: Lakers clinched
• SportsLine projection: No. 3 seed

4. Denver Nuggets (46-28)

• Tiebreaker vs. Rockets: Nuggets clinched
• Tiebreaker vs. Wolves: Nuggets clinched
• SportsLine projection: No. 4 seed

5. Minnesota Timberwolves (45-28)

• Tiebreaker vs. Rockets: Tied with one game remaining
• SportsLine projection: No. 5 seed

6. Houston Rockets (43-29)

• Tiebreaker vs. Suns: Rockets clinched
• SportsLine projection: No. 6 seed

7. Phoenix Suns (40-33)

• Tiebreaker vs. Clippers: Series tied 2-2, Suns hold because of division record
• SportsLine projection: No. 7 seed

8. Los Angeles Clippers (37-36)

• Tiebreaker vs. Blazers: Clippers lead 2-0
• SportsLine projection: No. 8 seed

9. Portland Trail Blazers (37-37)

• Tiebreaker vs. Warriors: Blazers clinched
• SportsLine projection: No. 9 seed

10. Golden State Warriors (35-38)

• SportsLine projection: No. 10 seed

Eastern Conference standings

As mentioned above, the Knicks missed out on their first chance to clinch a playoff spot with a loss to the Hornets on Thursday, and more importantly hurt their chances of catching Boston for the No. 2 seed. Orlando, Charlotte and Miami are tied for the 8/9/10 seeds. The three-way tiebreaker is cumulative winning percentage in head-to-heads against all the teams involved. 

1. Detroit Pistons (53-20)

• Tiebreaker vs. Celtics: Pistons clinched
• SportsLine projection: No. 1 seed

2. Boston Celtics (48-24)

• Tiebreaker vs. Knicks: Knicks lead 2-1
• SportsLine projection: No. 2 seed

3. New York Knicks (48-26)

• Tiebreaker vs. Cavaliers: Knicks clinched
• SportsLine projection: No. 3 seed

4. Cleveland Cavaliers (45-28)

• Tiebreaker vs. Raptors: Raptors clinched
• SportsLine projection: No. 4 seed

5. Atlanta Hawks (41-32)

• Tiebreaker vs. 76ers: Hawks clinched
• Tiebreaker vs. Raptors: Raptors clinched
• SportsLine projection: No. 6 seed

6. Toronto Raptors (40-32)

• Tiebreaker vs. 76ers: 76ers currently own via division record
• SportsLine projection: No. 5 seed

7. Philadelphia 76ers (40-33)

• Tiebreaker vs. Magic: 76ers clinched
• Tiebreaker vs. Hornets: Series tied 1-1
• Tiebreaker vs. Heat: Series tied 1-1
• SportsLine projection: No. 7 seed

8. Orlando Magic (39-34)

• Tiebreaker vs. Hornets: Hornets clinched
• Tiebreaker vs. Heat: Magic clinched
• SportsLine projection: No. 10 seed

9. Charlotte Hornets (39-34)

• Tiebreaker vs. Heat: Heat clinched
• SportsLine projection: No. 8 seed

10. Miami Heat (39-34)

• SportsLine projection: No. 9 seed

Notable magic numbers

• Knicks' magic number to clinch a playoff spot: 1
• Celtics' magic number to clinch a playoff spot: 2
• Lakers' magic number to clinch a playoff spot: 3
• Cavaliers' magic number to clinch a playoff spot: 4
• Pistons' magic number to clinch East's No. 1 seed: 5
• Thunder's magic number to clinch West's No. 1 seed: 8