NBA play-in tournament standings in the final week of the regular season

The NBA is entering the final week of the 2020-21 regular season and things are going to go down to the wire in both the Eastern and Western Conferences. This is mostly because of the NBA play-in tournament including four teams from each conference, seeds 7-10, who will compete in the tourney to decide the final two seeds into the NBA playoffs. Things are very tight in the standings in each conference and we likely won’t know the exact matchup until the final day of the regular season on Sunday.

We already have reports from Shams Charania saying that the NBA is adjusting the schedule for the final day, having all 15 teams playing with games starting between noon and 3:30 p.m. ET. This will pretty much create a mad-dash to the finish line and help us get a clearer picture of how the play-in tournament will shake out. Here, we’re going to be tracking the standings and NBA playoff picture for the play-in tournament this week.

The Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers and Dallas Mavericks are all fighting to avoid the play-in tournament in the West. The Lakers may be in trouble with LeBron James out, but he’s expected to be back Tuesday. The Mavericks are in the best position to land the No. 6 seed.

In the East, it appears things are very much up in the air. The Boston Celtics could end up in a 1-game playoff in the tourney. The Miami Heat are also in danger of the play-in and the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks are fighting for home court in the first round in the 4-5 slots. The Heat and Celtics may be able to move up, but we’ll see.

Eastern Conference play-in tournament matchups

No. 7 seed Celtics vs. No. 8 seed Wizards
No. 9 seed Pacers vs. No. 10 seed Hornets

*Standings are updated as of Sunday, May 16. The x indicates teams who will be in the play-in tournament.