With the regular season finishing Sunday, the NBA’s postseason is set to begin Tuesday with the play-in tournament.
The Lakers, who finished third in the Western Conference, and the Clippers (fifth) qualified for the first round of the playoffs, which begin next weekend.
The NBA’s inaugural play-in tournament came during the COVID-19-interrupted 2019-20 season as a way to make it more competitive when the regular season resumed in the bubble at the Walt Disney World sports complex near Orlando, Fla. After another experimental postseason utilizing the play-in tournament, the NBA’s board of governors voted in July 2022 to keep the format.