Power Rankings, Week 25: Where every team stands 1 week before the postseason

Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets held off Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in a potential playoff preview over the weekend.

We’ve known for a while now which 10 teams are definitely heading to the Lottery and which 20 are heading to the playoffs or the Play-In.

Here’s where those top 20 teams stand with one week and 58 games left in the regular season …

Eastern Conference

The

Pistons

have clinched the No 1 seed.

Celtics

need two results (wins or New York losses) to go their way to clinch the 2 seed, while the

Knicks

need three (New York wins or Cleveland losses) to hold off the Cavs for third.

Cavs

need just one win or an Atlanta loss to clinch their spot in the top four, and they’ll face the Hawks twice this week.

Hawks

are looking good for fifth and won

their head-to-head tie-breaker

with the sixth-place Sixers.

Sixers

and

Raptors

each have 35 losses, the

Hornets

Magic

each have 36, and the 10th-place

Heat

have 37. So the last guaranteed playoff spot is up for grabs, and the Play-In order could certainly see some shuffling in the next seven days.

Western Conference

Thunder

Spurs

will be the top two seeds. Oklahoma City needs two results (wins or San Antonio losses) to go its way to clinch No. 1 and home-court advantage through the Finals.

Nuggets

,

Lakers

Rockets

have all clinched playoff berths.

The Lakers and Nuggets are tied at 50-28, with L.A. having won

the head-to-head tie-breaker

.

The fifth-place Rockets are just a game behind L.A. and Denver, but lost the head-to-head tie-breakers with both. They need two results (Houston wins or Minnesota losses) to go their way to keep the Wolves in sixth, and they’ll meet each other in Houston on Friday.

Wolves

need two results (Minnesota wins or Phoenix losses) to go their way to clinch their spot in the top six.

Suns

aren’t quite locked into seventh place, but they’re close.

Clippers

Blazers

Warriors

are all locked into the Play-In. The Clippers and Blazers are tied for eighth place, and the tie-breaker will be determined by their game in Portland on Friday.

The only way the Warriors don’t finish 10th is if they go 4-0 and the Clippers go 0-4 this week. They’ll play each other on Sunday.

It’s the final week of the NBA regular season – and there’s still so much at stake.

19 of the 20 postseason teams have yet to clinch their seed.

Check out all the seeding possibilities ⬇️

pic.twitter.com/ZIaNWGQYHP

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR)

April 6, 2026

Plus-Minus Players of the Week

Right Way:

Neemias Queta (BOS) was

a plus-91 in three games last week

Wrong Way:

Ace Bailey (UTA) was

a minus-88 in four games last week

Teams of the Week

Make It Last Forever:

Detroit (3-1) — The Pistons continue to beat good teams without Cade Cunningham, and they gave the Thunder a scare without Duncan Robinson, Tobias Harris and Jalen Duren, too.

Something Just Ain’t Right:

Toronto (1-3) — The Raptors might be stuck in the Play-In because they lost to the Kings last week.

* * *

East vs. West

The East was

13-8

against the West last week, but the West clinched a winning record in interconference games for the 24th time in the last 27 seasons and is now

228-217

(.512) against the East with seven interconference games left to play.

Schedule strength through Week 24

Toughest:

1. Utah, 2. Brooklyn, 3. Golden State

Easiest:

1. Charlotte, 2. New York, 3. Detroit

Schedule strength = cumulative opponent record.

Movement in the Rankings

High jumps of the week:

Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia (+2)

Free falls of the week:

Chicago (-2)

Week 25 Team to Watch

Denver

—

The Nuggets just beat the Spurs and could align themselves in San Antonio’s half of the Western Conference bracket if they can move ahead of the Lakers into third place. They’ll actually face both Oklahoma City and San Antonio over the weekend, first hosting the Blazers and Grizzlies early in the week.

Previously…

Last week:

Celtics, Wolves rising as season nears its end

The archive:

NBA.com Power Rankings

OffRtg

:

Points scored per 100 possessions (League Rank)

DefRtg

Points allowed per 100 possessions (League Rank)

NetRtg

Point differential per 100 possessions (League Rank)

Pace

Possessions per 48 minutes (League Rank)

The league has averaged 114.7 points scored per 100 possessions and 100.2 possessions (per team) per 48 minutes this season.

NBA.com’s Power Rankings, released every Monday during the season, are just one man’s opinion. If you have an issue with the rankings, or have a question or comment for John Schuhmann,

contact him via Bluesky