With the NBA regular season being officially wrapped up as of Sunday, the league will go into its first phase of postseason play on Tuesday, starting with the 2025 Play-In Tournament.
The tournament was officially included in the playoff picture in 2022 after being used for two consecutive seasons, according to an NBA webpage.
Essentially it's four teams playing for the seventh and eighth seed in their respective conference, according to an article from the LA Times that was published on Sunday.
The seventh and eighth seed will play for the No. 7 spot in the playoffs and the loser of that game will play the winner of the ninth and 10th seed game for the No. 8 spot, according to the same source.
In the Western Conference, the No. 7 Golden State Warriors will take on the No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday the Warriors look to redeem themselves and secure a spot.
The Warriors are in this position because of their loss on Sunday to the Los Angeles Clippers in overtime. If they had won that game, they would have clinched the sixth seed and had a first-round matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers, according to a Saturday article published by The Athletic.
The last time these two played, Golden State point guard Stephen Curry dropped 52 points, shooting an impressive 60% from the three-point line with 12 threes, just one three shy of his career high for most threes in a game on April 1st
During the season, the Warriors went 3-1 in the season series against Memphis, which is why Golden State will host them at the Chase Center, according to a gameday preview from the NBA.
Whoever wins the game between Golden State and Memphis will clinch the seventh seed and play the Houston Rockets in round one. The loser will play the winner between the No. 9 and No. 10, who in this case are the Sacramento Kings in ninth and the Dallas Mavericks in 10th.
The team that comes out as the last seed in the Western playoff picture will go up against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the top seed in the conference who also has the best record in the league at 68-14.
The Kings and Mavericks will play on Wednesday. The losing team will be officially eliminated from playoff contention and their season will be over.
In the Eastern Conference, the No. 7 Orlando Magic are scheduled to play the No. 8 Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday for a chance to play the No. 2 Boston Celtics. Following this matchup on Wednesday, the No.9 Chicago Bulls will matchup against the No.10 Miami Heat, with the loser of that game being eliminated.
The winning team will then play the loser of the Magic and Hawks for a chance to secure the No. 8 seed and play the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavs won their first 15 games of the season and later set a franchise record of 16 straight wins before it was ultimately snapped by a loss to the Magic.
The team went on to finish with a record of 64-18, which was their best record since the departure of NBA superstar LeBron James
The final games of the play-in tournament are scheduled to be played on Friday, with round one of the playoffs immediately following on Saturday.
