Entering the 2025/26 season, both the Clippers and Warriors were widely projected to finish among the top seven teams in the Western Conference, with Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and Ivica Zubac leading the way for L.A. and Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler as the co-stars in Golden State.
Nearly six months later, much has changed for both teams.
The Clippers, who have been the subject of an NBA investigation all season long due to allegations of salary-cap circumvention, got off to a miserable 6-21 start that had fans questioning whether blowing up the roster at the trade deadline was a real possibility for the club. L.A. rebounded nicely, finishing the season on a 36-19 run to get above .500 (42-40), but the team did break up its veteran core at the deadline after all, sending Harden to Cleveland and Zubac to Indiana.
The Clippers got enough back in those deals – including two-time All-Star Darius Garland – to remain competitive, especially with Leonard staying healthy and delivering a vintage season. But his future in Los Angeles remains a major question mark as he and the Clippers fight to earn a playoff spot this spring.
In Golden State, the Warriors’ star duo was broken up by an injury rather than a trade. Butler suffered a torn ACL in January that prematurely ended his season, while Curry went down shortly after that with a knee injury that kept him on the shelf for over two months. Without their top two scorers, the Warriors’ offense predictably nosedived — of the 20 teams that eventually made the postseason, none had a worse offensive rating from February 1 onward than Golden State. And none entered the play-in tournament with a worse record than the Warriors’ 37-45 mark.
Curry is back for the play-in tournament, but he’s still not at 100%, having played no more than 29 minutes in any of his four tune-up games at the end of the season. And without Butler available, the Warriors’ ceiling is limited.
Still, these are two veteran clubs with a ton of postseason experience between them, so Wednesday’s win-or-go-home game in L.A. will be a fascinating one. The No. 9 Clippers are currently favored over the No. 10 Warriors by about five points by most sportsbooks.
Before the Warriors and Clippers tip off, the Sixers and Magic will face one another in Philadelphia in Wednesday’s early game to determine which team will get the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The 76ers have looked like a dangerous team at times in 2025/26, but the inconsistent availability of Joel Embiid and Paul George has once again made it hard for them to generate a ton of momentum. While Philadelphia posted a 24-14 record when Embiid played this season, he’s currently unavailable after undergoing an emergency appendectomy last week.
The Sixers were a sub-.500 team with Embiid inactive this season, but the good news is that both George and Tyrese Maxey are ready to go this week, and the club went 20-14 in the games they played together this season.
The 76ers are favored by two points against the Magic, who were viewed by oddsmakers as the third-best team in the East entering the season. Like Philadelphia, Orlando has been affected by injuries — star forward Franz Wagner was limited to 34 games due to a nagging high ankle sprain.
Still, even when they’ve been healthy, the Magic haven’t lived up to preseason expectations. They’ve struggled to maintain their past defensive level, dropping to 13th in defensive rating after finishing in the top three in each of the previous two seasons. And while Desmond Bane has been everything the team hoped for when it gave up four first-round picks to acquire him last summer, it hasn’t been enough to significantly improve Orlando’s offense, which was just 18th-best in the league this season.
The last week-and-a-half of the regular season was a microcosm of the Magic’s year as a whole. Battling for a top-six seed in the East, Orlando reeled off five straight wins from April 3-10, including an impressive victory over Detroit last Monday. But in Sunday’s regular season finale against a Celtics team resting nearly all of its regulars, the Magic failed to take care of business, losing 113-108 to slip to the No. 8 spot in the East.
Orlando wouldn’t have clinched a playoff spot with a win on Sunday, but that loss in Boston was the difference between hosting tonight’s game or visiting Philadelphia. And it’s probably safe to assume home court advantage would’ve made the Magic the favorites. Instead, they’re viewed as narrow (two-point) underdogs.
We want to know what you think. Which veteran Western Conference team will keep its season alive on Friday? Can the Emibid-less Sixers pull out a win against the up-and-down Magic to clinch a playoff spot?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your predictions!
Voted Hornets and Trailblazers correctly yesterday. Predicting 76ers and Clippers tonight
Banchero was talking “no sense of urgency” in the loss to the Celtics’ bench. I wonder if the Magic will have that tonight…
I was in the minority today, picking 76ers and GSW. I think the Clippers’ center position gets exposed.
Who on the Warriors will “expose the Clippers center position?”
Half court shooting: KP? Three-point shooting: Horford? Shouldn’t be shooting: Greymond?
I sure hope the Warriors go down tonight and gain that 11th pick. A victory this evening just for team morale would be nice, but I can’t count on the Suns to step up Friday.
Wouldn’t it be just like a division rival to stick it to Golden State and lay a turd so the Warriors pick 15th instead?
Horford and Porz should outplay Lopez and Batum
See how angry Lopez got on Sunday? He was a fuming 290 pound load of anger. My thought is he comes out and drops 25 on KP tonight. Brook gonna do some damage.
@Gary
Seems unlikely. Porz Al and Bassey totally outplayed Lopez and Batum on Sunday, and that’s likely to happen again.
Its going to come down to if the Refs call the holds on Curry. Lue will test the Refs like usual by having those guarding Curry to hold him. Whenever Refs call the holds early on Curry he does well. Can’t forget the Cavs holding Curry on almost every play.
Refs tonight include incompetent James Williams and corrupt Ben Taylor.
Probably not a good sign for GSW.
Wow they sure got the bad umps tonight. Watch leonard get the ticky tack fouls and warriors getting nothing.
please get rid of the play in
really waters down the sport and competition
and unfair to 7 + 8 seeds who grind out 82 games only to be eliminated after 1 or 2 games
also kinda hard to understand who is still in and who is out and what happens next.
The competition increases if you watched any of the games last night. The Play-in games have rarely resulted in a blowout. Being a top 6 seed is something you have to battle for the whole season. It’s fair to give teams in the 7-10 seed a chance especially since they are all close in record typically. It makes enough sense.
It’s completely fair. Teams have to make the top 6 in 82 games or risk elimination.
That’s far more entertaining than the old system was.
I love this play-in part to end the NBA season. It keeps five more cities involved in the last couple of weeks, and the 9/10 game is like an immediate, ready-made game seven for all to enjoy.
How is it unfair to 7 and 8?
One of them is automatically in. So it’s only question mark for one of them.
So the second team loses, but gets another chance at it and then they’re in. That’s a pretty nice reward for finishing one spot ahead of the 9 seed?
I’ll take that risk for the chance at two other teams having a slight chance to get in and also making the 9/10 game incredibly interesting.
If you want to say the 8 seed position is not fair, bring up the fact they have to play the #1 seed in the conference after grinding it out for 82 games only to be swept !!