Poll: Who Will Win Friday’s Play-In Games?
The final two spots in the 2026 NBA playoff field are up for grabs on Friday night, with two teams in the East and two teams in the West vying for the No. 8 seed in their respective conferences.
In Friday’s early game, it’ll be the Hornets, coming off a thrilling overtime victory over Miami, visiting the Magic, who lost on Wednesday in Philadelphia.
Although Orlando has home court advantage, Charlotte has looked like the better team for months. From January 3 through the end of the regular season, the Hornets posted a 33-15 record with a +10.7 net rating, while Orlando went 26-21 with a +0.2 mark. The Magic have struggled to consistently play the kind of basketball they believe they’re capable of, with their once-vaunted defense not doing enough to make up for a mediocre offense.
Given that context, it’s perhaps no surprise that the Hornets are viewed as the safer bet to win on Friday — most sportsbooks are listing them as 3.5-point favorites.
Still, Tuesday’s play-in game vs. Miami, which Charlotte barely eked out despite the Heat missing Bam Adebayo for most of the night, provided a reminder of the team’s Achilles heels.
The Hornets led the NBA in three-pointers made (16.4 per game) during the regular season, but they’re prone to streakiness. After finishing first and second in threes by a comfortable margin during the regular season, Kon Knueppel and LaMelo Ball made just 2-of-22 shots from beyond the arc on Tuesday, which allowed Miami to stick around without Adebayo. This also isn’t a roster heavy on postseason experience — a late-game turnover from Ball in overtime against the Heat nearly cost the Hornets that game, and it’ll be interesting to see how poised the young Hornets are on the road on Friday.
Friday’s late game with be another showdown between a pair of division rivals, as the Suns host the Warriors in Phoenix.
Unlike Orlando, the Suns overachieved this season relative to outside expectations, but like the Magic, their inconsistent play during the second half of the season has jeopardized their chances of securing a playoff spot. Phoenix’s offense relies heavily on star guard Devin Booker, but he has struggled mightily in fourth quarters since the All-Star break, as John Voita III of Bright Side of The Sun details (via Twitter).
It feels like Golden State has more momentum entering Friday’s game. The Warriors have been revitalized by Stephen Curry‘s return from a knee injury, and he and forward Draymond Green turned in vintage performances in Wednesday’s road win over the Clippers, with Curry providing the offensive heroics (35 points, seven three-pointers), while Green’s smothering defense on Kawhi Leonard helped secure the victory for the Dubs. Golden State also won its season series with the Suns, taking three of four games.
Still, the Warriors will enter Friday night as the underdogs. The Suns are widely listed as three-point favorites, with home court advantage presumably viewed as a potential difference-maker — Phoenix was 25-16 at Mortgage Matchup Center during the regular season, while Golden State’s regular season mark away from home was 15-26.
It’s worth noting that injuries could also be a factor in Friday’s late game. Besides missing two players (Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody) due to longer-term injuries, the Warriors will also be without Quinten Post (right foot injury management) and have listed Kristaps Porzingis as questionable due to right ankle soreness. Grayson Allen (left hamstring strain) and Mark Williams (left foot soreness) are considered questionable to play for the Suns. Even if Porzingis, Allen, and Williams all suit up, they likely won’t be at 100%.
We want to know what you think. Will the Magic and Suns bounce back from losses earlier this week and take care of business at home to advance to the playoffs? Or will the Hornets and Warriors ride their momentum – from a strong second half and Curry’s return, respectively – right into the first round?
Vote in our poll below, then head to the comment section to share your predictions!
Who will win Friday's play-in games?
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Charlotte Hornets and Golden State Warriors 47% (326)
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Charlotte Hornets and Phoenix Suns 24% (164)
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Orlando Magic and Golden State Warriors 18% (126)
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Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns 11% (78)
Total votes: 694
2026 NBA Draft Dates, Deadlines To Watch
We’re still over two months away from the 2026 NBA draft, but before we get to June 23, there are several other important dates and deadlines on the calendar. Here are some of those dates and deadlines worth keeping an eye on:
April 24 (11:59 pm ET): Deadline for early entrants to declare for the draft
College and international players who aren’t automatically draft-eligible this year have until the end of the day on April 24 to submit their names into the 2026 NBA draft pool. Those early entrants can withdraw their names later if they decide they’re not ready to go pro, though if college players want to maintain their NCAA eligibility, they can’t hire an agent who’s not certified by the NCAA.
Once the early entrant list is officially set, NBA teams can begin conducting or attending workouts for those players.
May 8-10: NBA G League Combine
The NBA has experimented in recent years with the format of this event, which was previously known as the G League Elite Camp. It was revamped in 2019 and consisted that year of 40 veteran G League invitees participating in the first half of the event, followed by 40 top draft-eligible players (who weren’t invited to the actual combine) taking part in the second half.
However, after being canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19, the Elite Camp only featured 40 draft-eligible prospects, without the G League players, when it returned in 2021. That format has carried over to subsequent years, including when the event was rebranded last year as the G League Combine.
The league invites about 45 prospects who didn’t make the initial cut for the NBA’s actual draft combine to the G League Combine, then a handful standouts are invited to remain in Chicago for the full-fledged combine that follows.
May 10: NBA draft lottery
The 2026 draft lottery will be the eighth one employing the format that was introduced in 2019. With the lottery odds flattened out, the NBA’s worst team has a 14% shot at the No. 1 overall pick, as opposed to the 25% chance it had prior to ’19.
The volatility of the format reared its head over the last couple years. In 2024, the Hawks jumped up from 10th in the lottery standings to nab the No. 1 overall pick, which they used on Zaccharie Risacher. A year later, the Mavericks entered lottery night with the 11th-best odds and lucked into the top pick in a draft that featured a consensus top pick, Cooper Flagg.
There’s not a single prospect that stands head-and-shoulders above the rest of the class in 2026, so any team that moves into the top four and comes away with a player like AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, or Caleb Wilson should come away from lottery night pretty happy.
Notably, this will almost certainly be the last draft that uses the current format. NBA commissioner Adam Silver, looking to discourage teams from tanking, has vowed to implement lottery reform ahead of the 2026/27 season. It’s possible that the odds will be further flattened in 2027, leading to even more unpredictable results on lottery night.
May 10-17: NBA draft combine
This week-long event, which takes place annually in Chicago, allows NBA teams to get a first-hand look at many of the year’s top draft-eligible players.
The combine is often particularly important for early entrants who have yet to decide whether or not to stay in the draft. The feedback they get at the combine could go a long way toward dictating whether they keep their names in the draft or return to school for another year.
In the past, the draft lottery has taken place after the conclusion of the combine. The NBA flipped the two events on its calendar in 2024 and has stuck with that schedule since then. The May 10 lottery results figure to have an impact on which teams focus on which lottery-caliber players in Chicago.
May 27 (11:59 pm ET): NCAA early entrant withdrawal deadline
College underclassmen who want to retain their NCAA eligibility will have to withdraw their names from the draft pool by May 27. NBA rules call for a later withdrawal deadline, but the NCAA has its own set of rules that say the deadline is 10 days after the combine ends.
An early entrant could technically wait until after May 27 to withdraw from the draft and could still retain his NBA draft eligibility for a future year. However, he would forfeit his amateur status in that scenario, making him ineligible to return to his NCAA squad. College players who want to play overseas for a year or two before entering the NBA draft could take this route.
June 13 (5:00 pm ET): NBA early entrant withdrawal deadline
This is the NBA’s final deadline for early entrants to withdraw their names from the draft pool and retain their draft eligibility for a future year.
By this point, we generally know whether or not a college player decided to keep his name in the draft, but this is an important deadline for international players, who aren’t subject to the same restrictions as college prospects. We’ll likely hear about several international early entrants withdrawing from the draft during the days leading up to June 13.
June 23 and 24: NBA draft days
The most exciting few weeks of the NBA offseason unofficially begin on draft day, which is often when several of the first major trades of the summer are completed and when we get a sense of which direction certain teams are heading.
In 2024, for the first time, “draft day” actually referred to two days, as the NBA and NBPA agreed to make the draft a multi-day event, with the first round occurring on a Wednesday and the second round taking place on a Thursday. The league is sticking with that format in 2026 for a third straight year, though it’s moving the first round up to a Tuesday and the second round to a Wednesday, presumably to avoid a conflict with Team USA’s last group-play match in the FIFA World Cup on Thursday, June 25.
While the decision to expand the draft to two nights has drawn mixed reviews from fans, the NBA and most of its teams seem fond of it. Front offices now get the chance to regroup halfway through the draft to reset their boards and have more time to consider possible trades. The league’s broadcast partners, meanwhile, are able to devote a little more attention to second-round picks that frequently used to be made when the television broadcast was in the midst of an ad break, and fans don’t have to stay up so late into the night to see the end of the second round.
Each round of the draft will begin at 8:00 pm ET.
The hours and days after the second round ends will be hugely important for many of this year’s draft-eligible prospects — a ton of players who aren’t selected with one of the 60 picks in the draft will reach agreements shortly thereafter to play for an NBA team’s Summer League squad, to attend training camp with a club, or to sign a two-way contract.
Poll: Who Will Win Wednesday’s Play-In Games?
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!
Who will win Wednesday's play-in games?
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Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers 35% (239)
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Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Clippers 30% (203)
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Philadelphia 76ers and Golden State Warriors 21% (140)
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Orlando Magic and Golden State Warriors 15% (100)
Total votes: 682
Poll: Who Will Win Tuesday’s Play-In Games?
The Hornets got off to an 11-23 start in 2025/26, looking awfully similar to the team that lost 55, 61, and 63 games in the three seasons prior to this one. But losing their 23rd game on January 2, Charlotte has been a revelation, posting the NBA’s best net rating (+10.7) and sixth-best record (33-15) during that stretch as youngsters like Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel enjoyed breakout years.
Having been bogged down by their slow start, the Hornets’ red-hot play over the course of three-plus months to close out the season only got them so far. They finished the season ranked ninth in the East, so despite being the conference’s fourth-best team since the new year (behind only Detroit, Boston, and Cleveland), Charlotte will have to win a pair of play-in games to make the playoffs.
The first of those play-in matchups will occur on Tuesday, when the Hornets host the Heat in Charlotte. Although the Hornets are comfortably favored to win that game – most sportsbooks are listing Miami as about a six-point underdog – a victory is hardly guaranteed against a Heat team that finished the year just a single game back of Charlotte and won the regular season series 3-1.
The Heat have had a more up-and-down season than the Hornets. After compiling winning streaks of six and seven games earlier in the year, they lost five in a row in March, which decimated their chances of securing a top-six spot in the East. But they’ve had to deal with a series of injuries affecting top players, including Tyler Herro, who was limited to 33 outings after making the All-Star team last season, and have managed to hold their own anyway, finishing in the top 14 in the NBA in both offensive and defensive rating.
Miami also holds the edge in postseason experience over Charlotte. The Heat are old hands in the play-in tournament, having earned playoff spots via the play-in in each of the past three seasons, including as the No. 10 seed a year ago. Conversely, Charlotte hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2016, and the last time they were in the play-in (2022), LaMelo Ball and the Hornets were blown out by 29 points.
Over in the West, the 45-37 Suns will host the 42-40 Trail Blazers in Tuesday’s late game. While the No. 9 Hornets and No. 10 Heat are simply trying to keep their respective seasons alive, Phoenix and Portland are playing in the West’s No. 7 vs. 8 game, meaning one of them will be able to clinch a playoff spot with a victory tonight.
The Suns will host the contest and are viewed as roughly four-point favorites. But the upstart squad, which has enjoyed an encouraging bounce-back season after parting ways with Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant last summer, hasn’t been playing its best basketball in recent weeks. Following a 39-27 start, Phoenix won just six of 16 games to close out the season. The Blazers, on the other hand, wrapped up the regular season on a 10-4 run, picking up a crucial victory over the Clippers on Friday to take control of the No. 8 seed in the West.
Still, like the Heat in the early game, the Suns’ top players have been here before. Top scorers Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks have 76 total playoff appearances between them, while regulars like Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, and Jalen Green have competed in postseason series too. The Blazers have some veterans in their rotation, including former NBA champion Jrue Holiday, but key contributors Deni Avdija, Donovan Clingan, Toumani Camara, Shaedon Sharpe, and Scoot Henderson have yet to appear in a playoff game.
Will the home court and playoff experience advantages be enough to earn the Suns a win, or will the Blazers’ late-season momentum carry over to the play-in? Can the Heat recreate last season’s success as a No. 10 seed in the play-in, or will the Hornets show on Tuesday that their second-half run was no fluke?
Vote in our poll below on tonight’s matchups, then head to the comment section to weigh in with your predictions!
Who will win Tuesday's play-in games?
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Charlotte Hornets and Phoenix Suns 39% (287)
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Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers 35% (253)
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Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns 17% (125)
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Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers 9% (67)
Total votes: 732
2026 NBA Draft Early Entrants List
Early entrants who wish to declare for the 2026 NBA draft tentatively have until the end of the day on Friday, April 24 to make that decision official.
Players who declare for the draft this year will have to withdraw by the end of the day on May 27 if they wish to retain their NCAA eligibility. The NBA’s withdrawal deadline, which is more relevant for international prospects, will be on June 13 at 5:00 pm Eastern time. The 2026 draft will take place on June 23 and 24.
Typically, the initial number of early entrants declaring for the draft is far bigger than the final total will be, since many players “test the draft waters” to get feedback on their stock before ultimately deciding to withdraw.
However, the total number of early entrants has been trending sharply downward in recent years. This is due in part to players who were granted an extra year of eligibility in 2021 due to COVID-19 having graduated, meaning we no longer have dozens of “seniors” on the early entrant list. Additionally, the implementation of a rule allowing student athletes to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness (NIL) has made college basketball more lucrative than going pro for many young players.
Back in 2022, a total of 283 early entrants tested the draft waters and 149 kept their names in the draft pool. In 2025, those figures were down to just 109 and 46, respectively, and this year’s totals will likely be closer to those recent numbers.
We’ll use the space below to keep track of reports and announcements on early entrant prospects and their decisions. We’ll archive them all here in a running list, which will be accessible anytime under “Hoops Rumors Features” on the right sidebar of our desktop site, or in the “Features” page found in our mobile menu.
The players below are listed in alphabetical order. If you have any corrections or omissions, please contact us.
Last updated 5-8-26 (10:42 am CT)
College Underclassmen
Expected to remain in draft:
- Darius Acuff, G, Arkansas (freshman)
- Nate Ament, F, Tennessee (freshman)
- Christian Anderson, G, Texas Tech (sophomore)
- Cameron Boozer, F, Duke (freshman)
- Mikel Brown Jr., G, Louisville (freshman)
- Brayden Burries, G, Arizona (freshman)
- Cameron Carr, G, Baylor (junior)
- Chris Cenac, F/C, Houston (freshman)
- AJ Dybantsa, F, BYU (freshman)
- Isaiah Evans, G/F, Duke (sophomore)
- Kingston Flemings, G, Houston (freshman)
- Allen Graves, F, Santa Clara (freshman)
- Koa Peat, F, Arizona (freshman)
- Darryn Peterson, G, Kansas (freshman)
- Labaron Philon, G, Alabama (sophomore)
- Jayden Quaintance, F/C, Kentucky (sophomore)
- Hannes Steinbach, F, Washington (freshman)
- Dailyn Swain, G/F, Texas (junior)
- Bryson Tucker, F, Washington (sophomore)
- Henri Veesaar, C, North Carolina (junior)
- Keaton Wagler, G, Illinois (freshman)
- Caleb Wilson, F, North Carolina (freshman)
- Tounde Yessoufou, G/F, Baylor (freshman)
Testing the draft waters:
Note: Some of these players may also be transferring to new schools; their 2025/26 school is listed here.
- Matt Able, G, North Carolina State (freshman)
- Amari Allen, F, Alabama (freshman)
- Flory Bidunga, F/C, Kansas (sophomore)
- Finley Bizjack, G, Butler (junior)
- John Blackwell, G, Wisconsin (junior)
- Shane Blakeney, G, Drexel (junior)
- Anton Bonke, C, Charlotte (junior)
- Rowan Brumbaugh, G, Tulane (junior)
- Elliot Cadeau, G, Michigan (junior)
- Rueben Chinyelu, C, Florida (junior)
- Jacob Cofie, F, USC (sophomore)
- Cruz Davis, G, Hofstra (junior)
- Kennard Davis, G/F, BYU (junior)
- Keanu Dawes, F, Utah (junior)
- Gabe Dynes, C, USC (junior)
- Eian Elmer, F, Miami (OH) (junior)
- Jeremy Fears, G, Michigan State (junior)
- Colby Garland, G, San Jose State (junior)
- Louis Hutchinson, G/F, Alabama (junior)
- Morez Johnson, F/C, Michigan (sophomore)
- Acaden Lewis, G, Villanova (freshman)
- Aday Mara, C, Michigan (junior)
- Milan Momcilovic, F, Iowa State (junior)
- Malachi Moreno, C, Kentucky (freshman)
- Ebuka Okorie, G, Stanford (freshman)
- Dennis Parker, G, Radford (junior)
- Sebastian Rancik, F, Colorado (sophomore)
- Billy Richmond, G/F, Arkansas (sophomore)
- Andrej Stojakovic, G/F, Illinois (junior)
- Tyler Tanner, G, Vanderbilt (sophomore)
- Meleek Thomas, G, Arkansas (freshman)
- Aiden Tobiason, G, Temple (sophomore)
- LeJuan Watts, F, Texas Tech (junior)
Withdrawing from the draft:
Note: Some of these players may also be transferring to new schools; their 2025/26 school is listed here.
- Alijah Arenas, G, USC (freshman)
- Juke Harris, G, Wake Forest (sophomore)
- Isiah Harwell, G, Houston (freshman)
- Paulius Murauskas, F, Saint Mary’s (junior)
International players
Note: The country indicates where the player had been playing, not necessarily where he was born.
- Mohammad Amini, G/F, France (born 2005)
- Pavle Backo, C, Serbia (born 2007)
- Bassala Bagayoko, C, Spain (born 2006)
- Sergio De Larrea, G, Spain (born 2005)
- Francesco Ferrari, F, Italy (born (2005)
- Marc-Owen Fodzo Dada, G, France (born 2006)
- Vsevolod Ishchenko, G, Russian (born 2005)
- Jack Kayil, G, Germany (born 2006)
- Karim Lopez, F, Australia (born 2007)
- Alex Samodurov, F, Greece (born 2005)
- Luigi Suigo, C, Serbia (born 2007)
What To Watch For In Season’s Final Days
The NBA’s 2025/26 regular season will wrap up on Sunday, which means we now have just four days remaining. Here are a few things worth keeping an eye on during those four days:
Playoff berths and seeding
Of the NBA’s 12 automatic playoff berths – the top six seeds in each conference – 10 have been claimed, including all six in the Western Conference. But in addition to those last couple top-six spots in the East, there are still plenty of seeding questions to be answered in the season’s final days.
Eastern Conference:
The Pistons have comfortably secured the No. 1 seed, but no other team in the East is locked in a specific seed (Twitter link via NBA).
The Celtics, who will play in New York on Thursday, need a single win or a single Knicks loss in the final three games of the season in order to claim the No. 2 seed. Assuming Boston finishes second overall, the Knicks will still need to hold off the Cavaliers for the No. 3 seed — they have a half-game lead and the tiebreaker edge over Cleveland.
The fifth through 10th seeds in the East are still a mess, with at least three teams in play for each of those slots. Here are the standings in that section of the conference entering Thursday:
- Atlanta Hawks (45-35)
- Toronto Raptors (44-35)
- Orlando Magic (44-36)
- Philadelphia 76ers (43-36)
- Charlotte Hornets (43-37)
- Miami Heat (41-38)
The No. 10 Heat, who still have to play three games, starting with one in Toronto on Thursday, will have a hard time moving up the standings, as will the No. 9 Hornets, whose final two contests are against Detroit and New York.
The Hawks, meanwhile, just need one more win to clinch a guaranteed playoff spot, but neither of their remaining games – vs. Cleveland on Friday and at Miami on Sunday – can be viewed as an easy win. It’ll be interesting to see how this race plays out in the coming days and which tiebreakers wind up being most relevant.
Western Conference:
Things are less chaotic in the West, where the Thunder (No. 1), Spurs (No. 2), Timberwolves (No. 6), Suns (No. 7), and Warriors (No. 10) are all locked into specific seeds. But the race for the third and fourth spots in the standings is an interesting one.
Currently, the Nuggets (52-28) are in the driver’s seat for No. 3, but they’ll wrap up their regular season schedule by hosting Oklahoma City on Friday and visiting San Antonio on Sunday. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Thunder sit some regulars on Friday, or at least play them fewer minutes — they have nothing left to play for until the postseason begins, and they’d probably prefer to keep the Nuggets in that No. 3 seed, on the opposite side of the playoff bracket.
The Lakers (50-29) and Rockets (50-29) are right behind Denver, and both teams have relatively favorable schedules to close out the year. Los Angeles will play in Golden State on Thursday before hosting the Suns on Friday and the Jazz on Sunday. Houston faces the Sixers on Thursday, then the Grizzlies on both Friday and Sunday, all at home. Given their injury woes, the Lakers appear most at risk of slipping to No. 5.
Further down the Western Conference standings, the Trail Blazers (40-40) are right on the 41-39 Clippers‘ heels for the No. 8 seed. Portland will need a victory over L.A. on Friday in order to gain control in that race — if they win on Friday, the Blazers would simply need to beat Sacramento on Sunday to line up a matchup with the Suns in the play-in tournament. Whichever team finishes at No. 9 would get a home play-in game, but would have to win a second one on the road to make the playoffs.
Traded draft picks and lottery odds
It’s probably safe to assume that the Jazz, who will send their 2026 first-round pick to the Thunder if it’s not in the top eight, will be looking to extend their 10-game losing streak to 12 to close out the season. But even if they win a game and finish with the NBA’s fifth-worst record (or finish tied for the fourth-worst record and lose a coin flip), the odds of their pick landing outside the top eight would be minuscule (0.6%).
One more loss would lock the Pacers into a bottom-three finish, guaranteeing them the best possible lottery odds, including a 52.1% shot at a top-four pick. That’s important because their first-rounder will be sent to the Clippers if it lands outside the top four.
Interestingly, the Clippers are probably rooting for Indiana to lose out to finish the year — if the Pacers were to finish with the NBA’s worst record instead of the league’s second- or third-worst mark, that pick would have the exact same odds of falling outside the top four and being sent to L.A. (47.9%) but could fall no further than No. 5 rather than slipping to No. 6 or No. 7.
The Pelicans (26-54), Mavericks (25-55), and Grizzlies (25-55) are one group of teams worth keeping an eye on for lottery finishes. The worst team in that group could have top-four odds as high as 37.2%, while the best team could have odds as low as 26.2%. Of course, it’s worth noting that the Hawks control the most favorable of New Orleans’ and Milwaukee’s first-rounders.
Speaking of the Bucks (31-49), they’re neck-and-neck with the Bulls (30-49) for lottery positioning, with the worst of those two teams getting the ninth-best lottery odds. It’s safe to assume plenty of fans in Chicago will be rooting hard against their team on Thursday vs. Washington and Sunday vs. Dallas.
Award races and the 65-game rule
While it’s rare for an award race to be decided by what happens in the final two or three games in the regular season, there aren’t many slam dunks this year, so it’s entirely possible that a voter could be swayed by a couple more big performances from a certain player in the season’s final days.
Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg vs. Hornets sharpshooter Kon Knueppel for Rookie of the Year is one race that’s going down to the wire. There also doesn’t appear to be an overwhelming consensus for Sixth Man of the Year or Most Improved Player, among other awards.
Defensive Player of the Year is one award that looks like a lock, but frontrunner Victor Wembanyama will have to play at least 20 minutes in one of San Antonio’s final two games of the season in order to meet the 65-game minimum to qualify. The Spurs big man sat out on Wednesday due to a rib contusion, but the team is reportedly optimistic about his chances to return on Friday.
The 65-game rule figures to have a significant impact on voters’ decisions this spring, especially when it comes to All-NBA spots. Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, Lakers guard Luka Doncic, and Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards likely would’ve been All-NBA shoo-ins, but they’ll each fall short of the 65-game requirement. It sounds as if the agents for Cunningham and Doncic may both apply for “extraordinary circumstances” exceptions, but the CBA language defining that term is so vague that it’s hard to say whether or not they’ll be successful.
Suns guard Devin Booker is among the other stars who will fall just shy of the 65-game requirement — he could end up playing in 66 contests, but because he logged fewer than 10 minutes in two of them, those two won’t count toward the minimum.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard will each have to play at least 15 minutes in one of their respective teams’ final two games in order to hit the 65-game threshold.
Potential roster moves
There are still a handful of teams with an open spot on their standard 15-man rosters, as our tracker shows. Those teams are as follows:
- Boston Celtics
- Chicago Bulls
- Utah Jazz
- Note: The Jazz technically have a full 15-man roster on Friday, but will open up a spot on Saturday following the expiration of Kennedy Chandler‘s 10-day contract.
It’s not unprecedented for a team to leave a roster spot open at the end of the season, but it’s somewhat rare — all 30 teams finished the season with full 15-man squads in each of the past three years.
Each of the three clubs listed above are good bets to make a roster move before their final games tip off on Sunday, even if it’s as simple as promoting a two-way player to a standard contract to make him postseason-eligible.
Of course, even teams with full 15-man standard rosters aren’t necessarily locked into their current groups. The Heat, for instance, are still considered likely to waive Terry Rozier at some point today or Friday in favor of a newcomer (or, more likely, a promoted two-way player).
Thursday would typically be the last day for a team to waive a player on an expiring contract, since he must clear waivers before each team plays its last regular season game. However, because a player clears waivers at 5:00 pm Eastern and none of Sunday’s games start before 6:00 pm ET, a player on an expiring contract – such as Rozier – could still be waived on Friday this season, notes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link).
Coach and front office changes
While most head coaching and general manager changes are made after a team’s season ends, it’s certainly not unprecedented for it to happen during the final couple weeks of the regular season. The Nuggets fired head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth during the last week of the 2024/25 season, while the Grizzlies dismissed coach Taylor Jenkins at the end of March 2025. Earlier this week, the Bulls parted ways with top executives Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley.
Most action on this front likely won’t happen until at least next week, but I also won’t be shocked if news of a change breaks on or before Sunday night.
Poll: Who Should Be NBA Rookie Of The Year?
The Mavericks fell to 24-53 with a loss to Orlando on Friday night, but it was another huge night for No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, who became the youngest player – and the first teenager – in NBA history to score at least 50 points in a game, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
Flagg set a new career high by racking up 51 points on 19-of-30 shooting. The performance increased his full-season scoring average to 20.8 points per game, which ranks first among rookies. Among qualified rookies, he also ranks third in rebounds (6.6), second in assists (4.5), second in steals (1.2), and second in blocks (0.9) per game.
The 19-year-old is on track to become just the fourth rookie since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976 to average at least 20 points, six rebounds, and four assists per game, notes MacMahon. The other three are Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Luka Doncic.
“He should be Rookie of the Year. It’s unbelievable,” head coach Jason Kidd said of Flagg. “The country is not watching the same thing that we get to watch on a daily basis. The things that he’s done, he’s in rare air. He’s with the GOAT when you talk about MJ and what he did in his rookie year — and as a teenager.”
However, Flagg isn’t the current frontrunner for Rookie of the Year recognition. That honor belongs to his former college teammate Kon Knueppel, who earned 80 of 100 first-place votes in a Rookie of the Year straw poll recently conducted by Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Flagg received the other 20 first-place votes).
Knueppel, who has played 12 more games and 227 more total minutes than his former Duke co-star, has averaged 18.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 31.5 minutes per contest as a rookie for the Hornets.
Two major factors have given Knueppel the edge over Flagg in the eyes of many voters. For one, he’s having the best shooting season of any rookie in NBA history. The fourth overall picks leads the NBA with 264 made three-pointers and is knocking down 43.1% of his attempts, which also puts him among the league leaders in three-point percentage. Flagg isn’t having a bad shooting season – he has made 51.8% of his two-pointers – but he has converted just 29.3% of his shots from beyond the arc.
Additionally, while the Hornets are hardly a juggernaut, the emergence of the young squad has been one of the most fun NBA stories of the last few months. Charlotte hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016 and got off to an 11-23 start this season, but has since improved its record to 42-36. The team, which currently holds the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, has a real chance to end its postseason drought, and Knueppel has played a crucial role in that turnaround.
Flagg’s boosters would argue that it’s not his fault the banged-up Mavs essentially entered tank mode midway through the season and that he doesn’t have the same sort of supporting cast Knueppel does in Charlotte, where LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Miles Bridges are also having big years.
There’s even a recent precedent for a star rookie on a bad team winning Rookie of the Year over a fellow standout who had an important role on a playoff team — Victor Wembanyama of the 22-60 Spurs beat out Chet Holmgren of the 57-25 Spurs in 2024. But Wembanyama, who averaged over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game while leading the league in blocked shots, was even better two years ago than Flagg has been this season.
We want to know what you think. With apologies to VJ Edgecombe and a few other notable members of 2025’s draft class, Rookie of the Year has become a two-man race this season. So should Flagg or Knueppel win the award?
Vote in our poll and head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
Who should be this season's NBA Rookie of the Year?
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Cooper Flagg (Mavericks) 50% (497)
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Kon Knueppel (Hornets) 50% (490)
Total votes: 987
Checking In On Playoff Picture, Expired 10-Day Contracts
Although we already know which 20 teams will be taking part in the NBA’s postseason, only seven of those clubs have officially clinched playoff spots, assuring themselves of a top-six finish in their respective conferences. The Pistons, Celtics, and Knicks have booked their tickets in the East, while the Thunder, Spurs, Lakers, and Nuggets have done so in the West.
Two more teams could secure top-six playoff spots on Thursday. According to the NBA (Twitter link), the Cavaliers will clinch a playoff berth with a win tonight in Golden State, while the Rockets will be assured of a playoff appearance if the Suns lose in Charlotte.
Although the Timberwolves can’t clinch their own playoff spot with a win tonight, they hold a 4.5-game lead over Phoenix for the No. 6 spot in the West, where we’re getting pretty close to the playoff and play-in fields being set. Barring a late-season collapse, Minnesota and Houston will almost certainly join Oklahoma City, San Antonio, the Lakers, and Denver as top-six seeds, leaving the Suns, Clippers, Trail Blazers, and Warriors to battle it out in the play-in tournament. Those last three teams are already locked into the play-in, though seeding remains up for grabs.
The most compelling remaining playoff race figures to be for the final guaranteed playoff spot(s) in the East. The Cavs, who could’ve clinched with a win on Tuesday or a Philadelphia loss on Wednesday, will undoubtedly secure their spot sooner or later, but the fifth and sixth seeds in the conference are far from settled. The No. 5 Hawks (44-33) are separated from the No. 10 Heat (40-37) by just four games, with the Sixers (42-34), Raptors (42-34), Hornets (40-36), and Magic (40-36) also battling to finish in the top six — or at least to take part in the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in game, which would guarantee them two chances to make the playoffs.
While none of those Eastern teams is locked into the play-in yet, blowout home losses on Wednesday have made it increasingly difficult for Orlando and Miami to claw their way into the top six. Conversely, Atlanta strengthened its hold on the No. 5 seed with an impressive win over the Magic. The Hawks have now won 17 of their last 19 games.
In other housekeeping news, a total of four 10-day contracts expired overnight on Wednesday: Bez Mbeng (Jazz), DeJon Jarreau (Grizzlies), Tyler Burton (Grizzlies), and Markelle Fultz (Raptors).
Reporting has already indicated that the Jazz intend to re-sign Mbeng for the rest of the season, but that’s not an option for the Grizzlies with Jarreau or Burton unless they waive someone from their 15-man roster, since they were on hardship deals and aren’t eligible to sign another 10-day contract with Memphis. The Grizzlies remain eligible to re-add two players in those hardship slots, but barring more significant roster changes, they’ll likely have to bring in a pair of newcomers to replace Jarreau and Burton.
The Raptors, meanwhile, have the ability to re-sign Fultz, since they now have an open 15-man roster spot and the former No. 1 overall pick has only received a single 10-day deal with the team. He did appear in five games during his first 10 days with the club, but played very limited minutes and wasn’t all that effective (four total points on 2-of-11 shooting in 36 minutes).
The expectation is that the Raptors will sign someone else to replace Fultz, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca, who identifies Raptors 905 sharpshooter Tyreke Key as a potential candidate for a 10-day deal. If Toronto signs Key or someone else to a 10-day contract on Thursday, it would expire next Saturday night, allowing the team to promote one of its two-way players to the standard roster ahead of the postseason next Sunday.
Since there are only 11 days left in the season, time is quickly running out for teams to sign players to standard 10-day contracts. Starting on Friday, a team with an open roster spot would simply be signing a player to a rest-of-season deal. However, hardship “10-day” signings are still permitted through the end of the season. They would expire after the regular season finale, making those players free agents immediately.
Several more 10-day contracts, including Omer Yurtseven‘s with the Warriors, Malachi Smith‘s with the Nets, and Charles Bassey‘s with the Celtics, will end this weekend. Boston will have to either re-sign Bassey or bring in a new 14th man on Saturday after the center’s second 10-day deal expires on Friday night, since the Celtics aren’t permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for a full day for the rest of the season.
Our 10-day tracker shows the full list of active deals.
Hoops Rumors Glossary: Non-Bird Rights
Players and teams have to meet certain criteria to earn Bird rights and Early Bird rights, but Non-Bird rights are practically a given.
They apply to a player who has spent a single season or less with his team, as long as he finishes the season on an NBA roster and is on a standard contract (rather than a hardship or 10-day deal). Even a player who signs a rest-of-season contract right before the regular season finale and spends just a single day with his club would have Non-Bird rights in the offseason.
Teams can also claim Non-Bird rights on Early Bird free agents if they renounce them. The primary motivator to do so would be to allow the team to sign the free agent to a one-year contract or a one-year deal with a second-year option, a move that’s not permitted via Early Bird rights.
Teams are eligible to sign their own free agents using the Non-Bird exception for a salary starting at 120% of the player’s previous salary, 120% of the minimum salary, or the amount of a qualifying offer (if the player is a restricted free agent), whichever is greatest. Contracts can be for up to four years, with 5% annual raises.
The cap hold for a Non-Bird player is 120% of his previous salary, unless his previous salary was the minimum. In that case, the cap hold is equivalent to the two-year veteran’s minimum salary. If a Non-Bird free agent only has one year of NBA experience, his cap hold is equivalent to the one-year veteran’s minimum salary.
The salary limitations that apply to Non-Bird rights are more severe than those pertaining to Bird rights or Early Bird rights, so in many cases, the Non-Bird exception may not be enough to retain a well-regarded free agent. For instance, the Sixers held Guerschon Yabusele‘s Non-Bird rights last summer, but couldn’t have used them to match or exceed the offer the veteran big man received from the Knicks.
Because Yabusele was on a minimum-salary contract in 2024/25, Philadelphia’s ability to offer a raise using the Non-Bird exception was extremely limited — the Sixers would have only been able to offer 120% of Yabusele’s minimum salary using his Non-Bird rights, which worked out to $2,854,644. New York used its taxpayer mid-level exception to give him a two-year, $11.3MM contract, comfortably topping Philadelphia’s maximum Non-Bird offer.
The Warriors may end up in a similar situation this offseason with De’Anthony Melton, who will only have Non-Bird rights after playing out a one-year, minimum-salary contract. Golden State will only be able to offer him up to 120% of his 2026/27 minimum salary using the Non-Bird exception. That would work out to a projected $4.21MM.
Given how well Melton has performed when healthy this season, that likely won’t be enough to retain him, meaning the Warriors would have to be willing to use another cap exception – such as the mid-level – to make a competitive offer.
Holding Non-Bird rights on a free agent didn’t help the Sixers with Yabusele and might not be enough for the Warriors with Melton, but there are cases in which the exception proves useful.
The Sixers, for instance, only had Non-Bird rights on Justin Edwards last offseason, but that gave them the ability to offer him a three-year contract, exceeding the one- or two-year minimum-salary offer they could have made if he were an outside free agent. Non-Bird rights were also used to sign Nicolas Batum (Clippers), Jaxson Hayes (Lakers), Ajay Mitchell (Thunder), Gary Trent Jr. (Bucks), and Fred VanVleet (Rockets) — VanVleet had his Early Bird rights knocked down to Non-Bird rights so that Houston could give him a second-year player option.
The higher a player’s previous salary is, the less restrictive his Non-Bird rights are. For example, Hawks forward Jonathan Kuminga will only have Non-Bird rights this summer if his team option is declined, but Atlanta would have significantly more flexibility with him than Golden State will with Melton, since Kuminga has a $22.5MM base salary this season. The Hawks could offer Kuminga a starting salary of up to $27MM (120% of $22.5MM) using the Non-Bird exception.
Finally, it’s worth noting that a player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year deal (or a two-year deal that includes a second-year option) and will have Early Bird or Bird rights at the end of that contract would surrender those rights if he consents to a trade. In that scenario, he’d only finish the season with Non-Bird rights. Kuminga and Cavaliers guard James Harden are among the players who fit that bill this season.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
Earlier versions of this post were published in previous years by Luke Adams and Chuck Myron.
How The Grizzlies Are Carrying A 22-Man Roster
During the NBA’s regular season, teams are typically limited to carrying a maximum of 18 players — 15 on standard contracts (full-season or 10-day) and another three on two-way deals.
However, a team dealing with major injury issues can be granted a hardship exception, allowing that club to temporarily exceed the usual 18-man maximum. A team qualifies for a hardship exception when it meets all of the following criteria:
- It has at least four players unavailable due to injury or illness.
- All four of those players have missed at least three consecutive games.
- All four of those players are expected to remain sidelined for at least two more weeks.
A team becomes eligible for a single hardship exception when it has four players who meet the criteria, but it can also qualify for an additional hardship exception for each additional injured player beyond those initial four.
For instance, a team with five players who have missed at least three games due to injuries and will remain out for another two weeks would be eligible for two hardship exceptions, allowing that club to complete a pair of 10-day signings beyond its usual 18-man roster limit.
The banged-up Grizzlies have taken this rule to the extreme as of late. The team currently has seven players who meet the hardship criteria. The following seven players have all been ruled out for the season:
- Zach Edey (left ankle/elbow surgery recoveries): Out since Dec. 7
- Brandon Clarke (right calf strain): Out since Dec. 20
- Ja Morant (left elbow UCL sprain): Out since Jan. 21
- Santi Aldama (right knee surgery recovery): Out since Feb. 4
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (right fifth finger surgery recovery): Out since Feb. 11
- Scotty Pippen Jr. (right big toe surgery recovery): Out since Mar. 7
- Jaylen Wells (right big toe surgery recovery): Out since Mar. 23
As a result, the team qualifies for four hardship exceptions — one for the first four players above, then an additional one for each of the remaining three.
That means the Grizzlies are currently carrying 22 players. They have 15 players on full-season (or multiyear) deals, three on two-way contracts, and four on 10-day hardship pacts. DeJon Jarreau and Tyler Burton are under contract through Wednesday night, with Adama Bal‘s hardship deal running through next Monday and Lucas Williamson‘s expiring next Thursday night.
As our 10-day contract tracker shows, Jarreau and Burton are on their second 10-day deals with Memphis. Neither players is eligible to sign a third one, and unless the Grizzlies plan to waive one of their full-season players, there’s no room to promote them to the standard 15-man roster. That means there’s a good chance the team will be bringing in two new players on hardship deals as soon as Thursday.