NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb as Tatum’s Celtics, Doncic and Jokic tighten MVP race
26.01.2026 - 01:00:43
The NBA Standings flipped again overnight as LeBron James pushed the Los Angeles Lakers to another high-stakes win, Jayson Tatum kept the Boston Celtics steady at the top, and Luka Doncic plus Nikola Jokic put on the kind of box-score clinics that keep the MVP race on absolute boil. In a league where one hot week can rewrite the entire playoff picture, the last 24 hours just tightened every race from the top seeds to the Play-In line.
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From late-night thrillers in the West to bruising, defense-first grinders in the East, the scoreboard reshuffled both conferences again. The updated NBA Standings reflect more than just wins and losses: they show veteran stars refusing to fade, young cores learning how to close in crunchtime, and a handful of MVP-level performances that felt like May and June basketball in late January.
Lakers ride LeBron’s control, Warriors lean on Curry’s shotmaking
LeBron James did not need a 40-piece to control the tempo. His line was all about balance: points off drives, kick-out assists, deep rebounds that started instant transition. Every time the game tightened, he slowed the possession, hunted a mismatch, or found a shooter in the corner. The stat sheet backed it up with a near triple-double, the kind of all-around imprint that still bends defenses his way.
Afterward, his head coach essentially summed it up: the ball in LeBron’s hands still feels like the safest late-game offense in the league. It showed in the final five minutes, when the Lakers executed with a playoff level of precision, stringing together stops and calculated possessions instead of rushed pull-ups.
On the other side of the Pacific, Stephen Curry dragged the Golden State Warriors into another shootout. The box score logged one more classic: a massive scoring night punctuated by deep threes from well beyond downtown and a flurry of buckets to start the fourth quarter. Even when the defense keyed on him, Curry’s gravity unlocked cuts and slips to the rim for teammates. His player stats popped, but the real value was how completely he warped the opposing scheme.
Still, Golden State’s margin for error is razor thin. One cold stretch from their bench, one sloppy defensive rotation, and they slide closer to that uncomfortable zone on the fringe of the Play-In. In the latest numbers, they remain very much in the mix, but there is zero cushion left.
Celtics set the bar, Nuggets stay methodical, Mavs push the pace
The Boston Celtics again looked like the most complete regular-season machine. Jayson Tatum did what he has done all year: fill every column. Strong scoring from all three levels, timely rebounding, and enough playmaking to punish any hard double. His efficiency did not scream career night, but it screamed control. The Celtics defense locked in after halftime, and Boston ground the opponent down possession by possession until the outcome felt inevitable.
Out West, Nikola Jokic turned another night into a masterclass in patience. His player stats barely look real at this point: high 20s or 30-plus in points on high efficiency, double-digit rebounds, and a passing clinic out of the elbows and short rolls. Every time the defense tried to blitz or front him, he punished it with a backdoor dime or a simple turn-and-score. The Denver Nuggets offense continues to hum whenever he is on the floor, and the updated NBA Standings reflect that quiet, steady climb into secure top-tier territory.
Luka Doncic, meanwhile, played at full throttle. The Dallas Mavericks offense is basically built around a constant Luka pick-and-roll lab, and last night he hit nearly every note. Step-back threes, bully drives, cross-court lasers to shooters in the weakside corner: the full bag. The defense still has questions, but when Doncic is in this kind of rhythm, Dallas can beat anyone in a one-game sample. The latest win nudged them upward and kept them clear of the Play-In chaos for now.
Updated conference picture: who owns the top, who is stuck in the bubble
Zooming out, the latest NBA Standings paint a familiar but tightening picture. The Celtics are anchoring the East, the Nuggets still look like the most trustworthy group in the West, and a cluster of teams from seeds 5 through 10 in both conferences are separated by only a handful of games. Every win shifts the Playoff Picture; every bad road loss bleeds into the Play-In narrative.
Here is a compact look at how the top of the conferences and the Play-In zone stack up right now, based on the most recent official standings updates from NBA.com and ESPN:
| Conference | Seed | Team | Record | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 1 | Boston Celtics | Best in East | Tatum leading, elite two-way balance |
| East | 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | Top-tier | Giannis keeps them in contention |
| East | 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | Top 4 | Embiid’s MVP production, health is key |
| East | 7 | Miami Heat | Play-In range | Battle-tested, but offense streaky |
| East | 8 | Indiana Pacers | Play-In | High-octane offense, shaky defense |
| West | 1 | Denver Nuggets | Near top | Jokic steady, champion poise |
| West | 2 | Minnesota Timberwolves | Top 3 | Elite defense, young core rising |
| West | 3 | Oklahoma City Thunder | Top 4 | Shai leading a young juggernaut |
| West | 8 | Los Angeles Lakers | Play-In zone | LeBron and AD carrying heavy load |
| West | 9 | Golden State Warriors | Play-In | Curry brilliance, thin margins |
The exact win-loss records shift nightly, but the tiers are crystal clear. In the East, Boston, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia look locked into the home-court conversation barring injury. Miami and Indiana are classic on-the-bubble teams: dangerous, capable of pulling an upset, but one bad week away from sliding out of comfortable territory entirely.
In the West, the closeness is almost comical. Denver’s experience and Jokic’s nightly consistency make them feel safer than their slim lead suggests. Minnesota and Oklahoma City are playing like genuine top seeds, but they lack the playoff resume. Right underneath, the Lakers and Warriors are trying to prove that veteran experience plus star power can still trump seeding once the postseason starts, if they can just stay out of the 9–10 single-elimination danger zone.
MVP race: Jokic, Doncic, Tatum and LeBron’s late push
The MVP Race remains a four-man conversation built around very different brands of dominance. Nikola Jokic might have the cleanest case: monster advanced metrics, gaudy but efficient counting stats, and a Nuggets team firmly planted near the top of the West. Every night brings another near triple-double with 60 percent shooting and a handful of passes only he sees.
Luka Doncic is right there, stacking absurd player stats. He is putting up 30-plus points with double-digit assists often enough that it barely feels like news anymore. The difference this season: Dallas is winning enough that his numbers translate directly into MVP buzz, not just highlight reels. When he is cooking, the Mavs offense feels like a fire drill for defenses, forcing switches and rotations until someone is left wide open.
Jayson Tatum is the steady drumbeat of the conversation. He might not have the nightly fireworks of Luka or the box-score absurdity of Jokic, but he is the best player on the team with the best record, and his two-way workload is enormous. His defense on wings, his rebounding from the forward spot, and his late-game shotmaking keep Boston’s floor frighteningly high.
Then there is LeBron James. At his age, the fact that his name is still floating in MVP chatter at all is wild, but the case is simple: when he is on the floor, the Lakers’ offense works; when he sits, it too often craters. Night after night he posts lines in the high 20s with strong assist numbers, often flirting with a triple-double, while still picking his spots to lock in defensively on the other team’s best wing.
Steph Curry sits a half-step behind that top group, dragged down slightly by team record but elevated by his sheer on-court gravity. Any night he goes for 40 with a barrage of threes, the noise grows again. And hovering just around the edge are stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid, whose combination of rim pressure and defensive dominance makes every performance feel like a force-of-nature event.
Injuries and roster tweaks reshaping the playoff picture
No set of NBA Standings exists in a vacuum. The injury report is as important as the scoreboard. Teams across the league are juggling absences, minutes limits, and quiet load management decisions that will ripple into the spring.
One key storyline: how contenders survive when their main star or lead initiator misses time. Some squads have shown real resilience with next-man-up depth, others have looked completely lost without their centerpiece. That difference is already visible in the standings rows where teams with similar talent are separated by three or four games simply because one club held steady through a week of injuries while the other collapsed.
Trade chatter is bubbling as well. Front offices are weighing whether to push more chips in before the deadline or hold onto picks and prospects. Fringe contenders, especially in the crowded West, are debating if one more 3-and-D wing or a backup big who can survive in switch-heavy schemes might be the difference between a first-round exit and a real run.
Coaches, meanwhile, are openly acknowledging that the margin between a top-six seed and the Play-In is thinner than ever. Several have talked about tightening late-game rotations earlier in the season, hunting any little edge in crunchtime execution. That was evident last night: staggered star minutes, small-ball counters, and creative defensive looks to steal just one more clutch-time stop.
What to watch next: weekend clashes and statement games
The schedule over the next few days is loaded with games that will either solidify or scramble the current Playoff Picture. Any matchup with two teams between 3 and 8 in their conference essentially feels like a four-point swing in the standings. The stakes are that high this early because the standings bands are so compressed.
Must-watch basketball is on deck: the Celtics facing another physical Eastern contender, the Nuggets tested on the road against a hungry young group, and the Lakers plus Warriors trying to string together wins against direct Play-In rivals. Every one of those games has MVP Race implications too. A 40-point Tatum night in a statement win, a Jokic triple-double in a tight road environment, or another Luka explosion in prime time can tilt narratives as much as numbers.
For fans locked into the nightly grind, this is the sweet spot of the season. The NBA Standings matter now in a way they did not in November, but nobody has locked anything up. Seeds can swing on one hot shooting week, one ankle tweak, one unexpected role player stepping into the spotlight. The only smart move: stay locked in, track the live scores and player stats, and be ready when the next heart-stopping crunchtime thriller hits the schedule.
Bookmark the official NBA hub, keep one eye on the live box scores, and strap in. With LeBron and the Lakers charging, Tatum’s Celtics setting the pace, Curry still detonating from downtown, and Jokic and Doncic putting up video game lines, the race to the postseason is just getting started.
