CNN
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A thrilling finale to the NBA regular season shook up the play-in tournament places in the Western Conference, while there will be some familiar faces taking part in the East.
The play-in has already provided many memorable moments and there are yet more enticing match-ups in 2025.
How to watch
Tuesday’s games will be shown on TNT Sports – which shares parent company Warner Bros. Discovery with CNN – and Wednesday’s games on ESPN. TNT will then show the Eastern Conference Play-In game for the No. 8 seed and ESPN will air the West’s.
All of the games can also be streamed on the NBA’s League Pass.
What is the play-in tournament?
The play-in tournament has been around since the Covid-era NBA bubble at Disney World, Orlando in 2020 and was adopted fully by the league in 2022.
It was brought in to try and provide a more competitive end to the long regular season, giving an extra two teams – placed ninth and 10th – in each conference the chance to make the eight-team playoffs.
The No. 7 seed hosts the No. 8 seed in a single-elimination game, with the winner clinching seventh and a best-of-seven first-round series against the No. 2 seed.
The No. 9 seed then hosts the No. 10 seed, with the loser eliminated and the winner going on to face the loser of No. 7 vs. No. 8 to decide who clinches the eighth seed.
No. 7 Golden State Warriors vs. No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies
Starting in the Western Conference, an overtime classic between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers decided the fate of both teams on the final day.
The Clippers earned a 124-119 win – the team’s eighth straight to end the season – in San Francisco to clinch the No. 5 seed and relegate Golden State to a play-in spot to face the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Warriors are 3-1 over the Grizzlies this season and have been one of the NBA’s hottest teams since acquiring Jimmy Butler in a trade from the Miami Heat at the start of February.
The move has also helped elevate both Steph Curry and Draymond Green, with the latter now the leading candidate to win Defensive Player of the Year for the second time.
Add in some helpful role players and the presence of “Playoff Jimmy,” who helped carry the Heat to two NBA Finals, and the Warriors will feel they can be a threat this postseason.
The Grizzlies’ season was turned upside down when head coach Taylor Jenkins was fired on March 28, just nine games before the postseason.
The timing of the decision was shocking, but the Grizzlies were at the time on a run of winning just six out of 16 games. Interim head coach Tuomas Iisalo then lost his first three games in charge, before the team began to show signs of improvement, and it finished 4-2 over the last six games.
Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant ended the season strongly, but he will need plenty of support from running mates Jaren Jackson Jr and Desmond Bane if Memphis is to go on a deep run.
This roster is certainly still inexperienced when it comes to the postseason and, after a tumultuous end to the regular season, the odds are stacked against the Grizzlies.
No. 9 Sacramento Kings vs. No. 10 Dallas Mavericks
Only two seasons have passed since the Sacramento Kings reached the playoffs as the No. 3 seed in 2023, but it must already feel like a lifetime ago for fans.
The Kings dropped to the No. 9 seed last season and find themselves there again now, only this time with a much-changed roster.
The Kings brought in DeMar DeRozan in 2024 free agency, but then traded away franchise star De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs in February this year as Sacramento’s season began to implode.
The addition of Zach LaVine, acquired in the Fox trade, did little to change the team’s fortunes as the Kings limped to the No. 9 seed with a losing record.
Beyond this postseason, for which there is already little hope of making any sort of run, the Kings will have some tough decisions to make about the future direction of the franchise.
But, chin up, Sacramento fans. It could always be worse.
This season, Dallas Mavericks fans endured one of the bleakest stretches for any fanbase in modern sports history.
After reaching the 2024 NBA Finals, losing 4-1 to the Boston Celtics, optimism was high in Dallas coming into the season.
The team had shown it wasn’t far away from winning it all and, in Luka Dončić, the team boasted a generational talent entering his prime, plus the supremely gifted Kyrie Irving as his No. 2.
On February 2, everything changed.
In the midst of a difficult but by no means unsalvageable season, it was announced that the Mavericks would be trading Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in one of the most stunning trades in NBA history.
Anthony Davis, the main piece the Mavericks got in return for Dončić, got injured on his Dallas debut, before Irving went down with a season-ending ACL injury.
Davis managed to return to action before the end of the regular season, but it would be a tall ask for him to lead an injury-depleted Mavs roster on a postseason run.
No. 7 Orlando Magic vs. No. 8 Atlanta Hawks
Orlando Magic fans will likely be left with an overwhelming feeling of what might have been for the 2024-25 season.
It began with so much promise for this talented young core, which found itself as the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference after the opening couple of months of the season.
However, then the injury bug hit.
Orlando was without star Paulo Banchero for 34 games this season, while Franz Wagner also missed an extended period. Guard Jalen Suggs also played just 31 games before undergoing season-ending knee surgery.
While the team and the fanbase will no doubt be excited about next season already, this postseason could provide the young team – in particular key men Banchero and Wagner – with invaluable playoff experience, even if going on a run this season is a long shot.
It was shaping up to be an exciting season for a young Atlanta team, but the season-ending shoulder injury to Jalen Johnson in January was a real hammer blow to the Hawks’ chances this year.
In addition to Johnson’s promise, Dyson Daniels took a leap forward this season after being acquired from the New Orleans Pelicans in the trade that sent Dejounte Murray the other way in the offseason.
Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, is also looking like a valuable piece already, while star guard Trae Young is as wonderful on offense as ever.
It seems unlikely the Hawks will have enough this season to challenge the top seeds if they make the playoffs, but the future looks promising for this young core.
No. 9 Chicago Bulls vs. No. 10 Miami Heat
The Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat are familiar faces now in the play-in.
Appearing in the play-in tournament for the third straight season, the Bulls look vastly different now than they did to start the campaign.
Star man Zach LaVine and highly touted defender Alex Caruso were traded away, while Lonzo Ball returned to the court this season but still struggled with injuries.
The Bulls lost in the play-in in each of the last two season, and a win this time around is perhaps as far as they can expect to go this postseason.
The Heat’s already waning season crumbled after the team traded away Butler to Golden State.
Miami, also appearing in its third straight play-in tournament, improbably reached the NBA Finals after coming through the play-in in 2023.
Without “Playoff Jimmy” to lead them this year, however, the Heat’s chances of repeating that feat are next to zero.
While Tyler Herro has taken a leap forward in his development this season, Bam Adebayo has been underwhelming.
Fourth-quarter struggles have become a recurring theme for Miami, too, with that historic Finals run now a distant memory.
