


Game 82 for every team in the NBA has arrived. For 10 clubs, it’s the end of the season. For 13 others, it’s one last game before the postseason.
For seven teams in the Western Conference, Game 82 might feel like Game 7.
The NBA regular season ends today, with seven postseason-bound West teams entering the final day wondering where they’ll land in the standings. And it all could be decided around the same time; each of the games that will affect those unclaimed West spots start a little after 12:30 p.m.
There are four West teams — Golden State, Denver, the Los Angeles Clippers and Minnesota — vying for three guaranteed playoff spots, and one of them will even get home-court in Round 1. The odd team out of that mix is headed to a play-in game on Tuesday.
Also undecided: where Memphis, Sacramento and Dallas will end up. Memphis will be seventh or eighth in the West and in a play-in game on Tuesday, while Sacramento and Dallas will be ninth and 10th — in some order — with No. 9 hosting No. 10 in an elimination game Wednesday.
“It’s good that we know who we’re playing,” Mavericks forward Anthony Davis said. “So, we’ll start prepping.”
Entering today, Minnesota would be the odd team out in the race for those last three West guaranteed spots. Denver enters the final day in the No. 4 spot, with the Clippers fifth and Golden State sixth. The Timberwolves close at home against Utah, the team with the worst record in the West.
“Win the game and then whatever happens after that happens,” Minnesota’s Julius Randle said. “We win the game, we’re where we want to be. So, focus on us and I always say control what we can control. And after that, we’ll figure it out.”
The Eastern Conference order is set: Cleveland is No. 1, Boston is No. 2, New York is No. 3 (and will play No. 6 Detroit) and Indiana is No. 4 (and will play No. 5 Milwaukee). No. 7 Orlando hosts No. 8 Atlanta on Tuesday in a play-in game, and No. 9 Chicago hosts No. 10 Miami on Wednesday in an elimination game.
The West spots that are final: Oklahoma City is No. 1, Houston is No. 2 and the Los Angeles Lakers are No. 3. Next weekend’s openers will mark the first time that the Lakers host a Game 1 in Los Angeles since 2012; the Lakers were the home team for all four Game 1s they played on their way to the NBA title in the bubble in 2020, but those games were in Florida.
82-game players >> In addition to the Warriors’ Buddy Hield, there are 10 other players around the NBA with a chance at appearing in all 82 games — and six with a chance to start all 82.
Brooklyn’s Mikal Bridges, San Antonio’s Chris Paul, Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen, San Antonio’s Harrison Barnes, Houston’s Jalen Green, Minnesota’s Jalen McDaniels, San Antonio’s Julian Champagnie, Detroit’s Malik Beasley, Washington’s Bub Carrington and Minnesota’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker could play in their 82nd games of the season today.
Paul, who turns 40 on May 6, could become the second-oldest player, behind John Stockton, to start all 82 games. The others who could start 82: Allen, Barnes, Green, McDaniels and Bridges.