How the NBA Playoff Bracket would look if the season ended today

The 2023-24 NBA season has been a treat so far, but it's time to start thinking about the playoffs.

The stretch run of the season is here, and we now have a clear idea of who the true contenders are and who will ultimately end up on the outside looking in.

The regular season ends on Sunday, April 14, and after the play-in tournament concludes, the playoffs will kick off. They'll begin on Saturday, April 20.

In this piece, we will take a look at how the postseason bracket looks entering today's slate of games and what things would look like if the season were to end today.

Current NBA Playoff bracket

Only one team has already punched their ticket to the postseason. That team is the Boston Celtics, who have the best record in the NBA at 49-14. The Washington Wizards and San Antonio Spurs have already been eliminated from contention.

Boston would obviously be the top seed in the Eastern Conference and would await the final winner in the play-in tournament. They lead the East by eight games. The bottom four seeds in order from 7-10 are the Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, and Atlanta Hawks.

Indiana and Miami would face each other to determine seed No. 7. The winner of that game would face the No. 2 seed, the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bulls and Hawks would play each other and the winner would advance to play the loser of the 7-8 matchup. The winner of that final matchup would advance to play the Celtics.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are currently in possession of the third seed in the East, and they would open up against the No. 6 seed, the Philadelphia 76ers. The New York Knicks and Orlando Magic would face each other in the 4-5 series.

The Western Conference is a tightly packed race. The Oklahoma City Thunder are at the top, but not by a whole lot. They would obviously have seed No. 1 and await whoever ends up as the No. 8 seed in the play-in tournament.

In order from 7-10 are the Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, and Golden State Warriors. The defending champion Denver Nuggets would face off against either the Mavs or Kings, as they sit in the No. 2 position.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are in the No. 3 spot, and they would open up against the Phoenix Suns, who occupy seed No. 6 in the West. Finally, the Los Angeles Clippers would be seed No. 4 and face the fifth seed, which would be the New Orleans Pelicans if the season ended today.

When the playoffs begin, each round is best-of-seven. This is what the field currently looks like, but obviously there could be some fluctuation with over a month to go before the big dance, especially in the Western Conference.

The top three teams in the West are tightly packed. Denver only trails Oklahoma City by one game for the top spot, while the Timberwolves are only 1.5 games back. Even the Clippers and Pelicans aren't out of the mix for the top spot just yet.

Los Angeles trails by 3.5 games while the Pelicans are six games back.

We'll see how the rest of the NBA season plays out and who ends up making the postseason.