{"id":583317,"date":"2026-04-14T09:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T09:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/583317\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T09:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T09:02:07","slug":"is-the-nba-play-in-tournament-single-elimination-explaining-format-for-warriors-others-to-clinch-final-playoff-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/583317\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the NBA Play-In Tournament single elimination? Explaining format for Warriors, others to clinch final playoff spots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is the NBA Play-In Tournament single elimination? Explaining format for Warriors, others to clinch final playoff spots<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The NBA playoffs are about to begin, but first, both the Eastern and Western conferences must decide their final two seeds. As has been the case for the past several seasons, the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds in each conference will be determined by a play-in tournament this week. The teams ranked Nos. 7\u201310 in both the East and the West still have a chance to make the playoffs, although they will need to do some extra work to get there.<\/p>\n

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The NBA Play-In Tournament is not the typical single-elimination format that leagues use to decide who moves on to the next round. Instead, the format gives the higher seeds advantages, while still allowing lower seeds a chance to pull off upsets.<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at how the NBA Play-In Tournament breaks down this year.<\/p>\n

SN’s NBA HQ:\u00a0Live NBA scores<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Updated NBA standings<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Full NBA schedule<\/a><\/p>\n

Is the NBA Play-In Tournament single elimination?<\/p>\n

The NBA Play-In Tournament is more complex than a simple single-elimination tournament. Four teams enter with a single-elimination mindset, while four others have more leeway under a double-elimination format.<\/p>\n

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In both conferences, the teams ranked Nos. 7 and 8 in the standings will play one game against each other, with the winner claiming the No. 7 seed. Additionally, the teams ranked Nos. 9 and 10 will face off, with the loser eliminated from playoff contention.<\/p>\n

From there, the winner of the 9 vs. 10 game and the loser of the 7 vs. 8 game will play to decide the final playoff spot.<\/p>\n

Overall, in each conference, there are three games \u2014 two of which are elimination games and two of which determine the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds.<\/p>\n

MORE: When do the NBA playoffs start?<\/a><\/p>\n

NBA Play-In Tournament formatEastern Conference<\/p>\n

No. 7\/8 Loser vs. No. 9\/10 winner<\/p>\n

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Western Conference<\/p>\n

No. 7 Suns vs. No. 8 Clippers\/Blazers<\/p>\n

No. 9 Clippers\/Blazers vs. No. 10 Warriors<\/p>\n

No. 7\/8 Loser vs. No. 9\/10 winner<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Tracking NBA award eligibility for Cade Cunningham, more<\/a><\/p>\n

NBA Play-In Tournament schedule<\/p>\n

No. 8 at No. 7\u00a0<\/p>\n

No. 10 at No. 9<\/p>\n

Date:\u00a0Wednesday, April 22<\/p>\n

Winner 9\/10 vs. loser 7\/8\u00a0<\/p>\n

Western Conference<\/p>\n

No. 8\u00a0at No. 7 Phoenix Suns<\/p>\n

No. 10 Golden State Warriors at No. 9\u00a0<\/p>\n

Date:\u00a0Wednesday, April 22<\/p>\n

Winner 9\/10 vs. loser 7\/8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is the NBA Play-In Tournament single elimination? Explaining format for Warriors, others to clinch final playoff spots originally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[88728,355,13331,190067,99,16391,4202],"class_list":{"0":"post-583317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-cade-cunningham","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nba-playoffs","11":"tag-nba-standings","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-suns","14":"tag-warriors"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}