Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The NBA Play-In Tournament this year features teams that either failed to tank effectively or saw championship aspirations crushed by injuries.
- Four teams, including the Warriors with a Steph Curry under minutes restrictions, find themselves in positions that contradict their original season goals.
- No one is going to feel good about making the playoffs and getting steamrolled in round one.
The NBA Play-In Tournament is a bastion of suffering and despair. Nobody involved wants to be there; for half the teams, their presence in this disco circus reflects their inability to tank properly in the single most cutthroat tanking environment in world history. For the other half, they entered this season with aspirations to contend. Now they’re either injured, half-gutted or are the Orlando Magic: fully healthy, problematically all-in and somehow still horrendous at NBA basketball.
It is rough out here in the Play-In, and reflects the reality that a 30 team league can only really support 16 legitimately competitive teams once we get to April. The Play-In artificially adds four more that are required to care but really super do not want to. The fallout is a four day … thing in which maybe two teams are happy to be here.
The Warriors were trying to tank ... but they got stuck here
It’s actually gloriously entertaining if you’re an unconnected fan, but for the actual people involved it’s a root canal. Exhibit A: the Golden State Warriors finished the season 37-45. That’s horrible. Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler missed most of the season, with the latter’s injury essentially crushing any championship hopes they had. Every time I turned on a Warriors game on League Pass at 1 a.m. eastern time they were closing a game with a completely non-competitive lineup. Curry came back to some nice pomp and circumstance, but he’s now … going to be on a minutes restriction in the 9-10 game?
I am between 150 and 200 percent sure they were trying to tank for the most of the year, but they couldn’t keep up and found themselves stuck in this wack situation; they have absolutely zero incentive to win this game or any additional games. Unlike their opponent, the Los Angeles Clippers, they actually have their first-round pick this year, which will be a lottery pick if they just lock in and lose. Despite that, they probably still have the single best individual player in the entire Play-In — they could just accidentally win.
Meanwhile, the Clippers had a feel-good year and a winning season… relative to where it started which was a DEFCON 1 emergency: they started the season 6-21 and were about to send the first pick in the draft to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Thankfully, they got it together, and can hopefully stop the Thunder from getting another lottery pick by making the first round. Please. Please?
Four teams might be somewhat satisfied, but would have been better off elsewhere
The Phoenix Suns and the Portland Trail Blazers are both probably okay with kicking around the 7-8 spots — I mean, what are they going to do: tank in a league that had 10 different 50-loss and five 60-loss teams? The Suns did not have their pick, but Portland actually had theirs protected 1-14. Their fans probably understand the simple reality that both are completely, utterly, unequivocally screwed in the first round — I mean, what are they going to do: beat the Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs? “Should the Trail Blazers tank the Play-In to keep their pick? That’s coming up next on First Take!”
The East isn’t much happier. The Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat are inoffensively posted up in the 9-10 game, but both (especially Charlotte) probably think they could have done better than having to win two games before having to win four road rounds. But the 7-8 is where the real sadness abounds. In fact, I’m willing to make a bold historical claim: the 7-8 game in the Eastern Conference is probably the single most depressing matchup in the short and storied history of the Play-In.
We’re going to get to you, Orlando, but first: the Philadelphia 76ers — a very unlucky season, with Joel Embiid potentially missing a whole round of the playoffs due to appendix surgery after a season of injuries. This roster is, on paper, rather competitive, but dealt with suspensions and health issues and general instability all over. Tyrese Maxey continues to grow as a legitimate number one option and is a mortal lock to make an All-NBA team, but that’s all the 76ers can count on for this season. Without Embiid, they have put together some abhorrent basketball displays towards the end of the season. It is totally plausible they won’t even make it out of the Play-In … oh wait, no it isn’t. Because they’re playing the Orlando Magic!
Nothing can top this Orlando Magic disaster
The funniest part by far is that the Magic were not actually having a bad end to the season; they were 7-3 in their last 10, and actually did well to secure a shot at the six seed after a fairly appalling February and March. But look, if you had … one shot, one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted … in one moment, would you capture it? Or just let it slip to Baylor Scheierman, Luka Garza and Ron Harper Jr. because oh my god did the Magic do something hilarious in a critical game 82.
Their full team — Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane, the works — lost to the Boston Celtics, who were sitting THEIR EIGHT BEST PLAYERS. EIGHT. E-I-G-H-T. That secured the Magic the coveted title of suffering the two most embarrassing moments of the entire season: giving up a 31-0 run to Toronto and now losing to the Junior Varsity Celtics. Bane got outscored by John Tonje.
The ultimate zag here is that, should the Magic win the 7-8 game and get to play the Celtics (with actual players) in round one, they could be sufficiently embarrassed that they play with a fiery vengeance and catch the Celtics off guard. I do not see that happening. All I see is the saddest team in a Play-In full of sadness. A real achievement.
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