NBA Standings shake-up: Celtics, Nuggets hold, but LeBron’s Lakers and Curry’s Warriors feel the squeeze
05.02.2026 - 11:34:38
The NBA standings just tightened another notch, and you can feel the playoff pressure in every possession. With the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets still looking like the most complete teams in each conference, the real drama right now is around LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors, and a pack of contenders clawing for seeding that could decide their entire playoff picture.
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Last night’s action: close calls and statement wins
The latest slate did not completely rewrite the NBA standings at the top, but it did crank up the urgency for the teams in the middle and lower tiers. Contenders leaned on their stars, role players swung momentum, and several fringe playoff teams were reminded that one cold quarter can cost them an entire series worth of positioning.
In the East, Boston once again looked like a team built for June rather than January or February basketball. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown continue to hammer teams with two-way pressure, and whenever the Celtics get timely shooting from downtown from their supporting cast, it feels like they can rip off a 15–2 run out of nowhere. Their latest effort kept them perched on top of the conference and gave them a little breathing room in the race for the 1-seed.
Over in the West, Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets continue to operate like a team that knows exactly who it is. Denver’s offense flows through Jokic’s playmaking, and even on nights when his scoring numbers are modest by superstar standards, the box score still oozes impact: high-teens to mid-20s in points, double-digit rebounds, and a passing clinic that unlocks shooters and cutters alike. Their most recent win was more grind than glamour, but it reinforced how hard it is to knock them off their rhythm in crunch time.
LeBron’s Lakers, meanwhile, are living on that razor’s edge. One night, the defense locks in, Anthony Davis controls the paint and the glass, and the offense hums with LeBron manipulating every mismatch. The next, turnovers, missed boxouts, and streaky three-point shooting put them right back in a dogfight just to stay out of the deeper Play-In zone. Every possession late in games now feels like it’s carrying tiebreaker weight.
For Steph Curry and the Warriors, the story has been similarly volatile. Curry continues to launch from deep and bend defenses out to 30 feet, but Golden State’s margin for error is razor-thin when the supporting cast goes cold or the defense can’t string together stops. Even with their latest result keeping them in striking distance of the Play-In, nothing about their position is safe. It has the feel of a veteran team that has to play playoff-level basketball just to qualify for the actual playoffs.
Current NBA standings: contenders, climbers, and teams on the bubble
Zooming out from last night’s drama, the broader NBA standings picture is starting to crystallize at the top while remaining absolute chaos in the middle. Here is a simplified snapshot of how the core races look right now, with an emphasis on the teams shaping the playoff picture and the race around the Play-In line.
| Conference | Seed | Team | Record* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 1 | Boston Celtics | – | Control top seed; elite on both ends. |
| East | 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | – | Giannis-driven attack; chasing Boston. |
| East | 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | – | Embiid’s health shapes their ceiling. |
| East | 4 | New York Knicks | – | Physical defense; Madison Square Garden rocking. |
| East | 5 | Cleveland Cavaliers | – | Climbing with balanced scoring and tough D. |
| East | 7 | Miami Heat | – | Perennial dark horse; dangerous in any series. |
| East | 8 | Indiana Pacers | – | High-octane offense; defense still a question. |
| West | 1 | Denver Nuggets | – | Jokic in full control; steady atop the West. |
| West | 2 | Oklahoma City Thunder | – | Young core pushing hard for home court. |
| West | 3 | Minnesota Timberwolves | – | Defense-first identity; legit contender vibes. |
| West | 4 | Los Angeles Clippers | – | Kawhi, PG, and Harden fueling a late surge. |
| West | 9 | Los Angeles Lakers | – | LeBron and AD battling to escape Play-In danger. |
| West | 10 | Golden State Warriors | – | Curry’s heroics keeping them barely above water. |
*Records not listed with specific win–loss numbers here; always check the live board on NBA.com for the latest updated figures.
At the very top, the Celtics and Nuggets look less like regular-season darlings and more like teams with repeatable playoff formulas. They rarely beat themselves, they’re comfortable in slow, halfcourt possessions, and both can toggle into small-ball or size-based lineups without losing their identity.
Below them, the Bucks and 76ers in the East and the Thunder, Timberwolves, and Clippers in the West are in that middle tier where one hot streak or one injury swing can flip home-court advantage. Giannis Antetokounmpo keeps Milwaukee within striking distance of Boston, but each defensive lapse shows how much they miss the continuity of previous seasons. Philadelphia’s playoff fortunes again hinge on Joel Embiid’s health; whenever he is fully engaged, the MVP race conversation comes roaring back into focus.
In the West, OKC and Minnesota are no longer cute stories. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has become a nightly 30-piece waiting to happen, living at the free-throw line and controlling pace like a seasoned vet, while the Wolves’ defense smothers teams with size and rim protection. The Clippers, behind Kawhi Leonard’s two-way brilliance and James Harden’s playmaking, are the wild card that no contender truly wants to see in a seven-game series.
Then there is the bloodbath zone: seeds 7 through 10. This is where the Lakers, Warriors, and a rotating cast of upstarts are fighting for mere survival. One modest losing streak, and a team can plummet out of the Play-In and straight into lottery talk. One five-game heater, and suddenly you are eyeing the sixth seed and a guaranteed series.
MVP race and star power: Jokic, Tatum, Embiid still driving the narrative
Look at the current trajectory of the MVP race, and you see why the top of the NBA standings looks the way it does. Nikola Jokic keeps putting up absurdly normal-looking lines that would have been historic a decade ago. On an average night, he is flirting with a triple-double: around the high 20s in points, double-digit rebounds, and near double-digit assists, often on highly efficient shooting and ruthless decision-making.
Jayson Tatum may not always have the loudest box score, but his two-way load and the Celtics’ dominance keep his name firmly in the MVP conversation. His ability to get downhill, score from midrange, and punish smaller defenders in the post gives Boston a go-to option when the three-ball dries up. Add in his defense on opposing wings, and you understand why he is often framed as the league’s most complete forward.
Joel Embiid, when healthy, remains a statistical monster. His scoring from all three levels, his rim protection, and his ability to draw contact at a ridiculous rate create a nightly matchup nightmare. Around him, role players and shooters orbit his gravity, and that is why any extended absence immediately reshapes Philadelphia’s ceiling in the playoff picture.
Behind that main trio, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and even Kawhi Leonard occupy that next band of MVP chatter. SGA is a pure three-level bucket, Luka lives in the pick-and-roll and can also casually post 35-point triple-doubles, and Giannis is still a one-man fast break. Kawhi, when he loads up, suffocates scorers on one end and surgically dismantles defenses on the other.
And then there is the evergreen star power of LeBron and Curry. Neither may be the betting favorite for MVP right now, but both are absolutely central to their team’s playoff hopes. LeBron’s all-around game still translates into near triple-doubles, and his decision-making in crunch time is the only reason some Lakers late-game possessions hold together. Curry’s gravity creates wide-open looks even on nights when he is not hitting everything from deep; he stretches defenses to the point where one blown rotation becomes a game-losing breakdown.
Player stats and trends: who is trending up, who is fading?
When you break down the current landscape through player stats and recent form, a few themes jump out. The top contenders all have at least one star producing at near-MVP level, but the real separator right now is which teams are getting sustainable production from their role players across the full 48 minutes.
On the rise: young guards and wings who can get downhill and punish switching defenses. Playmakers like SGA and Tyrese Haliburton are piling up double-doubles with points and assists, turning every high pick-and-roll into a puzzle that defenses rarely solve cleanly. Wings who can hit pull-up threes, attack closeouts, and defend multiple positions are gold, and you see contenders stacking their rosters with exactly those archetypes.
Trending down: teams relying too heavily on isolation without enough ball movement or spacing. When the offense bogs down into late-clock heaves, even elite scorers struggle to maintain efficiency. That is where you see some would-be contenders sliding in the NBA standings: the regular-season grind exposes every weak link.
Disappointment is often about context. A star might be putting up gaudy points, but if the defense is leaking or the team cannot close out tight games, those numbers start to feel hollow. That is the thin line Curry’s Warriors and, at times, LeBron’s Lakers are walking: spectacular individual nights occasionally buried under defensive lapses, missed free throws, or broken late-game possessions.
Injuries, rotations, and the invisible hand shaping the playoff picture
No conversation about the current playoff picture is complete without talking injuries and rotation tweaks. Coaches are constantly juggling minutes, searching for five-man units that can hold up in crunch time and withstand the physicality that already feels like a preview of April and May.
Embiid’s periodic absences for Philadelphia, any tweak to Anthony Davis in Los Angeles, or a minor flare-up for a volume shooter on a contender can swing a week’s worth of results. That, in turn, can tilt tiebreakers and move teams up or down multiple spots in the NBA standings in a matter of days.
Coaches have been candid about it. The message from the benches has a common thread: preserving stars while still pushing for seeding. Some have openly acknowledged that they cannot chase every regular-season game like Game 7, but no one wants to fall into a road-heavy first-round series either. It is a delicate calculus, and one or two miscalculations can leave a team staring at a brutal bracket path.
What’s next: must-watch games and the road ahead
The schedule over the coming days is loaded with games that will feel like mini-playoff series long before the postseason tips off. Head-to-head clashes between top-four seeds in each conference will double as tiebreaker battles and measuring sticks for the true title picture. Every matchup between the Celtics and another East contender, every showdown between the Nuggets and the chasing pack in the West, becomes a statement opportunity.
For fans locked in on the Lakers and Warriors, every game from here on out has a must-win flavor. Lose a couple in a row, and the conversation shifts from which seed they will land on to whether they can even secure a Play-In home game. Win three or four straight, and suddenly you are imagining a scenario where LeBron or Curry steals a first-round series against a higher seed that has more pressure but less championship scar tissue.
From an NBA fan’s perspective, this is the sweet spot of the regular season. The standings have enough data behind them to be meaningful, but there is still just enough runway for teams to reinvent themselves. Rotations can tighten, defensive schemes can sharpen, and one breakout bench scorer can flip a series months before it happens.
If you care about the playoff picture, the MVP race, and every late-night box score that might shape who faces whom in April, now is the time to live on the live scoreboard and standings pages. The margins are thin, and the storylines are thick. The NBA standings are no longer just a snapshot; they are a pressure gauge on every star, every locker room, and every fan base dreaming of June basketball.
Stay tuned, circle the next clash between the elite contenders, and do not take your eyes off that logjam around the Play-In. The next week or two could be the stretch we look back on as the moment the bracket really took shape.
