As winter comes to an end and the weather heats up, basketball playoffs begin to approach. The NBA postseason is set to start on April 18. The Detroit Pistons clinched the first seed in the Eastern Conference, capping off the completion of a successful turnaround after a disastrous 14-68 season just two years ago. Their counterpart in the Western Conference is the Oklahoma City Thunder, a squad that won more than 63 games this season. Fans in Detroit and Oklahoma are heading into the playoffs with a lot of optimism after their respective regular season successes.
Other fanbases are not as fortunate. For example, the Brooklyn Nets had yet another disappointing season. The Nets are joined by the Utah Jazz, Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks, among others, in the elimination column. Those who find themselves on the margin of victory, however, have a lot to celebrate. Most notable among that group are the Charlotte Hornets, who clinched the No. 9 seed after a win over the Knicks last Sunday. The Hornets have put on an entertaining season, in part due to their $245 million arena renovation, and, in part, due to the rise of the dynamic duo of Lamelo Ball and rookie sensation Kon Knueppel. The two sharpshooters both made over 270 three-pointers over the course of the regular season, becoming the only other duo besides Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to accomplish the feat.
The Detroit Pistons will be pleased to see star guard Cade Cunningham returning to the court. After being out with a lung injury for about a month, fans grew concerned about the duration of Cunningham’s recovery. However, he will be back on the court just in time for the playoffs. Cunningham was in contention for the league’s MVP award up until the injury, and it will be interesting to see how Detroit performs with him back. They managed pretty handily without him, going 13-5 and averaging 114.8 points in his absence.
The Los Angeles Lakers have received positive recovery updates on their star point guard, Luka Dončić. Earlier in the month, Dončić suffered from a hamstring strain, which had halted his season up to this point. Hamstring injuries can require long recoveries but, luckily, Dončić seems to be making progress with his rehabilitation over in Europe. He is undergoing therapy in Spain and will return to the Lakers before their first-round matchup against the Houston Rockets on Saturday — although it seems unlikely he sees any playing time. Fans are hopeful that he will be back in form before their second-round matchup in the following week, should the team make it that far.
Last year, the New York Metropolitan area became hooked on watching the Knicks advance in the playoffs, and many New Yorkers are carrying that enthusiasm into 2026. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, both New Jersey natives, are looking to take the team all the way this time around. The team came up just short in 2025, but a strong regular season performance landed them the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and a good shot at the title.
In the west, the San Antonio Spurs are another team that has looked good all season and might be primed for a championship run, due, in large part, to the play of star forward Victor Wembanyama. Wembanyama, who has been voted second in late-season MVP odds behind OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is living up to the hype, averaging 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists. The 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year has shown no signs of slowing down as the Spurs head into the postseason, and Spurs fans hope that Wemby can continue to play well with rising stars Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell as San Antonio looks to make a playoff run.
It has been an exciting season for the NBA. The league revised the normal format of the All-Star game, new stars emerged and old stars continued their legacy. But the 2026 season is not over, as there are still 14 teams with potential postseason stories waiting to be written. With the playoffs starting on April 18 and the Finals beginning in June, it will be an exciting two months of basketball for fans all over.
