Will the Golden State Warriors push to stay out of the Play-in Tournament?
The Warriors have 10 games remaining on their schedule and are .5 games ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Clippers for the sixth seed.

They were a full game ahead on Tuesday but suffered a rough loss to the Miami Heat—their second in a row with Stephen Curry not in uniform. He has played in 60 of their 72 total games this season, missing three of their last four.  

The Warriors season has found new life since they traded for Jimmy Butler. Prior to the trade they were three games under .500 and totally out of the playoff picture. The Warriors have won 16 of 21 games since the trade to get on the right side of the Play-in Tournament.

Avoiding the play-in would give the Warriors a week of rest before the playoffs. However, the question remains—is it worth rushing Curry back to avoid two extra games in April?

Will the Pistons jump the Bucks in the standings?
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported just before 8 p.m EST on Tuesday (March 25) that Damian Lillard has a blood clot in his right calf and there is no timeline for a return to the court. The technical term is deep vein thrombosis, and second-season sensation Victor Wembanyama was also diagnosed with one in his shoulder shortly after NBA All-Star Weekend. In Wemby’s case, he hasn’t played basketball since and won’t for the rest of this season.

With 11 regular-season games remaining on their schedule, the Bucks can easily tumble in the standings without their second all star. As the fifth-seed in the Eastern Conference, their record is almost identical to the sixth-seed Detroit Pistons. The Bucks had been battling with the Indiana Pacers for the fourth seed until they were surpassed on Mar. 18.

The Pistons went on an eight-game winning streak in February, their longest since 2006, and have won six of their last nine games.

Can the Knicks get their act together against the NBA’s best teams
They are the third seed in the Eastern Conference with a 45-26 record and likely won’t fall any lower. However, it is also likely they will fall short of wrestling the two-seed away from the defending champion Boston Celtics. A major reason for that: the Knicks have not beaten the Celtics all season.

In fact, the Knicks have not won a single game against the two best teams in the east this season—the Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers—and only have an 11-17 record against teams over .500.

They added Karl Anthony-Towns and Mikal Bridges during the offseason to make a run for the franchise’s first NBA Championship since 1973, not to get throttled by the defending champs in the second round.

Jalen Brunson has not played since Mar. 6 with a sprained ankle, and maybe that will benefit the Knicks in the long term. Having their best player rested could be the jolt of energy they need to beat the best when it matters most.

The Knicks have one regular season game left against the Celtics, and two against the Cavs.

The Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks and the play-in
These two teams entered the season with championship aspirations. By the trade deadline the Mavericks had sent arguably the second-best player in franchise history—Luka Dončić—to the Lakers. In Phoenix, the Suns had reportedly agreed to a trade that would send Kevin Durant to the Warriors, but he told them that he didn’t want to go back to the Bay Area.

A disaster 2024-25 season might extend past 82 games for both teams. Injuries brought the Mavericks dangerously close to forfeiting games in mid March because nine players were injured, and they didn’t have the salary cap space to keep two G-League guys on the roster full time.

Anthony Davis, perhaps the Mavericks’ best player who they received from the Lakers in return for Dončić, returned from injury on Monday. They won that game. The Suns are on a four-game winning streak and as the 10th seed have the same record as the ninth-seeded Sacramento Kings. The Mavericks are currently out of the play-in but only a half game behind those two in the standings.

Will injuries decide who gets No. 2 seed in the West
No team is surpassing the Oklahoma City Thunder for the top seed in the West. They are going to finish this season with the franchise’s best record since leaving Seattle. Only three games separate the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, and Los Angeles Lakers for that No. 2 spot.

Ja Morant is dealing with his latest ailment—a hamstring injury that has kept him out for five games. Of the Grizzlies 72 games this season, he has played in only 43.

The Lakers were sitting as the three-seed when LeBron James went down with a groin injury. Of the seven games that he missed from March 10-17, they lost four. He has played in their last two games, but they still haven’t been able to get back to their previous winning ways.

Those are the four and five seeds in the west respectively. The 2022 NBA Champion Nuggets are dealing with an injury to their MVP candidate. With a nagging ankle problem, Nikola Jokić has missed five consecutive games, the longest stretch of his career and is doubtful to play on Wednesday, March 26. The Nuggets have lost three of the five games he’s been out.

That leaves the young and spry Houston Rockets as the current No. 2 seed. Amen Thompson has his own ankle injury, but his team is red hot with nine wins in their last 11 games. They have a two-game lead on the Nuggets.

On the final day of the regular season, the Nuggets take on the Rockets in a must-see matchup in Houston.