The NBA regular season ends on Sunday 12 April 2026. Six days from now, the seedings will be finalised, the Play-In Tournament bracket will be set, and the 2025-26 season will enter its decisive phase.
For most of the 16 playoff-bound teams, this final week is about health management, momentum, and avoiding injury. For the four play-in teams in each conference, positions 7 through 10, it is still a fight for position. A better seed means a more favourable play-in matchup, and the difference between 7th and 10th can be the difference between hosting a game and travelling for it.
The picture that has emerged from the 2025-26 season is genuinely compelling. Two franchises are carrying stories of rebirth. One is hosting a dynasty. And one of basketball’s most storied franchises is playing their way into the postseason through the back door.
Detroit Pistons: The First No. 1 Seed in 19 Years
On Friday 4 April, the Detroit Pistons clinched the Eastern Conference’s top seed with a 116-93 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Their record: 57-21. Their last No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference: the 2006-07 season.
Nineteen years. In a league where sustained excellence is genuinely rare, the Pistons’ return to the top of the Eastern Conference is a franchise story that warrants examination beyond the scoreboard.
The 57-21 record is not a soft-schedule mirage. It represents a team that has found identity, depth, and the kind of defensive organisation that championship teams tend to require. How deep that identity runs will be tested when the playoffs begin.
The Pistons hold home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs. In a conference that includes the Boston Celtics (No. 2 seed) and the New York Knicks (No. 3), that advantage is not trivial, the Celtics are defending East finalists with a roster capable of competing at any venue. But home court is home court, and Detroit earned it.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Defending Champions, 61-16
The Oklahoma City Thunder enter the final week of the regular season as the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed with a record of 61-16. They are the defending NBA champions, having won the 2024-25 title, and everything about their 2025-26 record suggests they intend to repeat.
61 wins is not just elite, it is the kind of total that defines a dominant team in the salary-cap era. Led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder have combined individual excellence with systematic team play in a way that places them, analytically, in the conversation of truly great regular-season performances.
The question that the data cannot fully answer, but that the playoffs will, is whether last year’s championship produced growth or complacency. The record suggests growth. The Western bracket will confirm it.
Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs: Rebuilding at Warp Speed
The most remarkable data point in the Western Conference standings is the San Antonio Spurs at approximately No. 2 seed with around 59 wins. A franchise that was expected to cycle through several more losing seasons is instead posting a record that puts them in the top two of the West.
The reason, in a single name: Victor Wembanyama. The French centre, in what is either his second or third NBA season, has compressed what should be a multi-year rebuild into an immediate contention window. His combination of length, skill, shot-blocking, and offensive versatility represents something the league has not encountered before in quite this form.
The Spurs at 59 wins is the kind of franchise acceleration that happens once every generation. Whether they can sustain it through the playoffs — against teams with more postseason experience and fewer question marks, is the analytical question of the Western bracket.
The Golden State Warriors: How a Dynasty Falls
No storyline in the NBA’s final week carries more weight of history than the Golden State Warriors facing the Play-In Tournament from the No. 10 position in the Western Conference.
A franchise that won four championships between 2015 and 2022. A team that defined the pace-and-space era of the sport. In the play-in, seeded tenth, needing wins just to qualify for the bracket.
The dynasty’s decline can be tracked across multiple seasons and through the lens of ageing rosters, contract constraints, and the inevitable difficulty of maintaining elite performance over a decade. The Warriors did not fall suddenly, they declined incrementally, and the 2025-26 standings confirm where that trajectory has arrived.
For the play-in, the Warriors’ position means they must win their first play-in game (against the No. 9 seed Clippers) or win twice from two chances to secure their playoff spot. The championship experience in that locker room is still formidable. Whether it is enough is another question.
The Play-In Tournament: Format and What to Watch
The NBA Play-In Tournament runs from Tuesday 14 April through Thursday 17 April. It determines the 7th and 8th seeds in each conference from the teams finishing 7th through 10th.
Eastern Conference Play-In (7-10):
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Charlotte Hornets
- Orlando Magic
- Miami Heat
Western Conference Play-In (7-10):
- Phoenix Suns
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Golden State Warriors
The format: 7 vs 8, with the winner claiming the 7 seed and a first-round playoff spot. The loser plays again — against the winner of 9 vs 10. The loser of that second game goes home. Two chances to get through for the 8 seed; one chance only for the 9 and 10.
Confirmed Playoff Seeds (as of 6 April)
Eastern Conference:
- Detroit Pistons (57-21) | 2. Boston Celtics | 3. New York Knicks | 4. Cleveland Cavaliers | 5. Atlanta Hawks | 6. Toronto Raptors
Western Conference:
- Oklahoma City Thunder (61-16) | 2. San Antonio Spurs (~59-18) | 3. Los Angeles Lakers | 4. Denver Nuggets | 5. Houston Rockets | 6. Minnesota Timberwolves
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