Every NBA standings tiebreaker that could come into play in the final week

The NBA Playoffs begin in less than two weeks. We know the 20 teams who will be in it but there's so much seeding left to figure out in the last week of the regular season. Here's a guide to every seed in each conference, and the games that still matter between today and the last day of the regular season.

Eastern Conference tie-breakers and magic numbers

1-seed East:

The Pistons won the season series vs. the Celtics 3-1 and hold tiebreaker.

2-seed East:

The Knicks have the tiebreaker over the Celtics because:

Celtics trail head-to-head 2-1 with one game left to play
But even if they tie, the Knicks are 12-3 in the division, the Celtics are 9-5 and cannot catch, so the Knicks win by division record tiebreaker

In a three-way tie with the Cavaliers and Knicks…

Division winner is settled first so the Knicks get the 2-seed
The tiebreaker resets to head-to-head record, and the Celtics went 3-0 vs the Cavaliers, so Boston is third.
The Cavaliers finish fourth

3-seed East

The Knicks have head-to-head tiebreaker over both Boston and the Cavaliers and a strong likelihood of finishing second or third. The Celtics have head-to-head tiebreaker over the Cavaliers and a strong likelihood of finishing second or third

4-seed East

The Celtics and Knicks can’t fall past fourth. The Cavs’ magic number for at least fourth is two. The Cavaliers and Hawks are tied for head-to-head tiebreaker and play twice more this week.

Atlanta needs to win both those matchups, win at least one more, and have the Cavaliers lose at least two more, or Atlanta needs to go 4-0 this week and the Cavaliers to go 1-4 or 0-5.
If the Cavaliers win either of the head-to-head games, they’re locked for the 4-seed.

5-seed East

Assuming the Cavaliers clinch the fourth seed outright, the Raptors have tiebreaker over the Hawks head-to-head.

If the Hawks win one more game, they are no worse than fifth. But if they lose out, five teams can catch the fifth seed.

Here are the relevant tiebreakers:

In any multi-team tie involving the Hawks, they win by division winner tiebreaker
Here are the tiebreakers for the teams’ matchups. I would go into three-team and four-team tiebreakers, but there are 42 different scenarios depending on who’s in and who’s out.

Western Conference tie-breakers and magic numbers

1-seed West

The Thunder need two more wins (or a combination of two wins or Wolves losses). They are almost definitely going to be the 1-seed.

2-seed West

The Spurs cannot fall further than second. They are a near lock to be the two seed.

3-seed West

This looked all but wrapped up for the Lakers, but injuries to Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves have put this up for grabs between LA and Denver.

The Lakers have tiebreaker over the Nuggets, Rockets, and Timberwolves. Their magic number for the 3-seed is four with four games remaining. They need any combination of four LA wins or Nuggets losses to clinch the 3-seed.

This probably looks like the Lakers losing to OKC and Golden State while Denver beats Portland and Memphis for a two-game lead. But that’s where it will get interesting.

The Lakers play Phoenix on Friday and Utah on Sunday. Phoenix will almost definitely have locked up the 7-seed and will be able to rest players if they choose, and the Jazz are tanking.

The Nuggets play OKC on Friday and San Antonio on Sunday. Both those teams will likely have clinched their spots, so they can rest if they choose. OKC in particular is good enough to beat the Nuggets with the bench unit and San Anonio may still be sore about that loss on Saturday, plus could use a win to knock Denver into the other side of the bracket.

If the Nuggets can’t beat the Blazers and Grizzlies, or if the Lakers manage to win against OKC and Golden State without Luka and Reaves, then this changes.

But it looks like the Nuggets are going to be the 3-seed from here.

The Rockets can still technically get the 3-seed. It would require them to win one more game than both the Lakers and the Nuggets, as Houston loses in all tiebreaker scenarios against both teams.

4-seed West

The Lakers and Nuggets’ magic number for the 4-seed is three over Houston; both have tiebreaker over the Rockets and Wolves.

The Rockets will need at least two losses from the Nuggets or Lakers to have a chance at the 4th seed.

In a 3-way tie for 3-5, the order would be:

3: Lakers (division winner)
4: Nuggets (head to head over Rockets)
5: Rockets

5-seed West

Lakers and Nuggets’ magic number for at least the 5-seed is one, as they have tiebreaker over the Wolves. Any win or loss by the Wolves clinches it.

Houston’s magic number for at least 5 is four. If they win the Wolves game Friday, that counts as two. The Rockets and Wolves are tied in the season series 1-1. They play Friday in what is a must-win if Minnesota wants out of the 6-seed.

Houston is a near lock for No. 5 given schedules, though LA could very well go 1-3 or 0-4 which opens the door for them moving up.

6-seed West

The Wolves’ magic number for the 6-seed is two. The Suns hold tiebreaker. If the Wolves can’t go 2-2 or better, they’re in real danger. Phoenix’s schedule is brutal, however, with the Rockets and Thunder on deck.

7-seed West

The Suns are tied 2-2 with the Clippers, and lead for division record, but have one more division game they could lose, allowing the Clippers to catch up. Their magic number is two.

8-seed West

The Clippers and Blazers are tied; the Clippers lead the season series 2-1. They play on Friday for the tiebreaker. If the Blazers win, they get tiebreaker with conference record. If the Clippers win, they get a tiebreaker with 3-1 head-to-head.

9-seed West

The Blazers’ magic number for avoiding the 10th seed is one; for the Clippers, it’s two. The Blazers own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Golden State. The Warriors can still pass the Clippers for tiebreaker by winning out and securing division tiebreaker.

10-seed West

The Warriors have clinched a play-in spot, they cannot fall out.