With the regular season of the NBA coming to a close it is time to take a look at the upcoming playoffs and the first ever play in tournament in the history of the NBA. Now even though LeBron James doesn’t seem to like the idea of a play in tournament, that hasn’t stopped the league from implementing it. Since this is the first time that it has happened in the league we will make sure to clarify everything for you.

What is the NBA Play In Tournament?

For starters, the play in tournament begins only two days from now and it ends on May 22nd, so it is a quick turn around. Now the tournament itself is quite complicated as there are a total of eight teams involved across both conferences. In years past it was simply the eight teams from each conference were in the playoffs, but this year the play in tournament includes the teams from the seventh to tenth seed. 

It first begins with the seventh and eighth seed playing each other in a best of three series with the winner taking the seventh seed in the conference. At the same time the ninth and tenth seed teams play each other to determine who will compete for the eighth seed spot. After these first two series, the loser of the 7th and 8th spot battle play the winner of the 9th and 10th spot battle. The winner of this series earns the final spot for the playoffs, the eighth seed. 

So one of the original seventh and eighth seed teams is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, while the loser has to earn their spot. The ninth and tenth seeds are not guaranteed anything which makes sense, but it does give them an extra opportunity to earn a spot in the playoffs. This structure was loosely used last year but not on a league wide level. This play in tournament really just expands the playoffs by a few days, but it will still make for a fun thing for the fans to watch. 

As previously mentioned, LeBron James has already spoken out about this tournament, but besides that there have not been many other comments about it. It will be interesting to see if this is just a one off thing for this year, or if they will keep this tournament around for years to come. LeBron has nothing to worry about when coming to playing in the tournament himself, but he felt as if it took away from the regular season and earning victories night in and night out. He is arguably the face of the league, so it will be interesting to see if they take his comments into consideration at all.

The NBA has also just released the teams playing in this tournament. We have the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies, and San Antonio Spurs playing in the western conference tournament. On the other side of the country there are the Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, and Charlotte Hornets playing in the eastern conference tournament. No wonder why LeBron though it was a dumb idea!

Besides this play in tournament, there are still a lot of great teams in the league that are likely to make a deep run in the playoffs. It is safe to say that a lot of people expected the Lakers to go back to back this year, but they are far from it. The league has completely switched since they especially with the addition of Kevin Durant back in the lineup. 

Kevin Durant

Speaking of Durant, all eyes are on the Brooklyn Nets to see how this team will perform in the playoffs. With the likes of James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Blake Griffin, expectations are at an all time high for this team. However they have lost some games to some pretty bad teams in the past that have left a lot of people scratching their heads. Since the playoffs are a series rather than a single game, we expect the Nets to be able to hold their own just fine.

Besides the Nets there are many powerful western conference teams that could give a run at the championship. Starting with the Utah Jazz who really just couldn’t seem to lose this season with their powerful winning streaks. They are going into the playoffs in full force and luckily for them are not missing any key players to injury.

Denver Nuggets

On the other hand, the Denver Nuggets currently sit at the sixth seed but have lost their star point guard Jamal Murray due to a torn ACL. Even with Nikola Jokic it is unlikely that he will be able to carry their team to a Championship especially with the star studded rosters across the league today. If he was able to pull this off, it would certainly be compared to Dirk Nowitzki and his title that came in 2011.

A team that surprised us all during the regular season and could continue to do so into the playoffs is the Phoenix Suns. Although they did not seem like a star studded roster even with Devin Booker and Chris Paul, this team is only one game behind the Utah Jazz. They have made it work up to this point, so don’t be surprised if we see them towards the end of the playoffs either.

76ers

Last but not least is the Philadelphia 76ers with the best record in the eastern conference. Their team has really come together nicely and has been tearing other teams apart left and right. With their roster in full swing, they can also make a deep run at these playoffs.

We could go on and on about the different scenarios taking place in the playoffs this year, so it really is a toss up. Even now we cannot pick out any clear favorite as there are an abundance of great teams in the league. That will just make watching the playoffs this year even more fun than years past!