This year will mark the fifth time, under its current structure, that the NBA Play-In Tournament will be played.
The tournament allows for teams in the lower margins of contention to make their way into the playoffs, provided they catch fire and win their games. It also expands the field of teams eligible for the postseason to the top 10 seeds in each conference. Introduced ahead of the 2021 playoffs, any and all statistics recorded in the games do not count toward official records. Yet, the implications for the teams – winners and losers alike – is massive.