NBA Playoff Bracket 2026 Round-by-Round Guide to the Postseason

Twenty teams are still alive with aspirations of winning the NBA Finals.

The list of prospective champions will be cut down to 16 by Friday night, as eight teams fight for four spots out of the play-in round.

Once the postseason begins, we should be treated to a handful of juicy matchups, beginning in the first round with Denver-Minnesota and New York-Atlanta among others.

The potential matchups throughout the NBA postseason bracket are mouthwatering as well. Anyone would sign up for Oklahoma City-San Antonio or Boston-New York for seven games.

Play-In Round

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The final four teams to make the eight-team brackets in each conference will be determined by the play-in tournament.

Phoenix plays Portland in the West and Philadelphia hosts Orlando in the East in the two win-and-get-in games between the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds.

The losers of those two contests play the winners of the No. 9-versus-No. 10 games on Friday to determine who will be the No. 8 seed in each conference.

Miami visits Charlotte on Tuesday, while the LA Clippers take on Golden State on Wednesday in elimination games.

The Heat have qualified three times for the postseason from the play-in round, so if you're going to pick one of the No. 9 or No. 10 seeds to advance into the first round, they are the pick.

First Round

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Four of the eight first-round matchups are already set.

Denver faces Minnesota and the Los Angeles Lakers take on Houston in the West, while New York faces Atlanta and Cleveland squares off with Toronto in the East.

San Antonio and Boston will oppose the winners of the No. 7-versus-No. 8 games.

Oklahoma City and Detroit await the winners of Friday's winner-take-all play-in round games.

The opening round is typically where the most lopsided results happen in the playoffs. A year ago, five of the eight first-round series were completed in either four or five games.

Most of the opening-round drama is expected to come from the series already set because of how close those teams were in the standings.

Nikola Jokic and Anthony Edwards could duel for seven games, as could James Harden and Brandon Ingram in the East.

The Lakers will be in the spotlight because of the injuries they dealt with at the end of the regular season. They face a tough Houston squad that is hungry for more after last year's first-round elimination at the hands of Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

New York-Atlanta is a fascinating series as well where Jalen Brunson and Jalen Johnson have the potential to score at a high volume in every game.

Second Round

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The second round is where every game should be incredible on a nightly basis.

Celtics-Knicks, Pistons-Cavaliers, Thunder-Lakers and Spurs-Nuggets are the series we would see if chalk holds in the first round.

If not, we could still see Thunder-Rockets or Pistons-Hawks as potential series that might go the distance.

Boston-New York would be the centerpiece of the second round, if that matchup comes to fruition.

The long-time rivals would be fighting for a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals, but a lot of fans can argue that semifinal series will be the real ECF given how much experience and star power resides on both rosters.

All signs are pointing to an OKC-San Antonio Western Conference Finals, but before we get there, we should see six or seven games of Victor Wembanyama versus Nikola Jokic.

Conference Finals

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Everyone wants to see the Thunder and Spurs face off for a spot in the NBA Finals.

The Spurs went 4-1 against the reigning NBA champion in the regular season. Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, De'Aaron Fox and Co. pose an incredibly tough matchup to the Thunder.

The dueling styles of Wemby and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would be on display in that series, but there's also a chance SGA goes head-to-head with Jokic for seven games.

Detroit was the top team in the East in the regular season, but many view the Celtics and Knicks as more postseason-ready teams.

If the Pistons reach the Eastern Conference Finals, there will be a ton of pressure on them to prove they belong at that stage of the postseason.

The Boston-New York winner will probably be favored in the ECF against anyone. After all, it's hard to match Boston's overall star power or Jalen Brunson's game in the playoffs.

The West will have the more hyped conference finals, but the East has the potential to be exciting as well.

NBA Finals

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No one will be surprised to see the reigning champion Thunder back in the NBA Finals for the second straight year.

You could make the case that few people will be stunned if Boston comes back to the NBA Finals to go for two titles in three years.

With Jayson Tatum back, the Celtics are arguably the best non-Thunder team in contention for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

We can only hope that the 2026 NBA Finals, no matter which teams qualify for it, will be as exciting as the seven-game series between OKC and Indiana was last year.

The NBA Finals are scheduled to begin on June 3. Game 7, if the series gets to that point, will be on June 19.