NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb, Tatum’s Celtics steady while Curry carries Warriors
24.01.2026 - 23:00:50
The NBA Standings took another twist in the last 24 hours as LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers continued their push up the West, Jayson Tatum kept the Boston Celtics steady near the top of the East, and Stephen Curry once again carried the Golden State Warriors in a night that felt a lot like an early playoff dress rehearsal. Between high-usage stars, wild fourth-quarter swings, and a tightening playoff picture, every possession suddenly feels like April basketball.
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Across the league, contenders flexed, bubble teams scrambled, and a few big names reminded everyone why their names sit near the top of every MVP Race conversation. The updated NBA Standings reflect that urgency: margins are thin, and one hot week can vault a team from Play-In anxiety to home-court advantage.
Lakers grind, Warriors survive, Celtics stay cold-blooded
LeBron James has seen just about every coverage a defense can throw at him, but his current stretch is as controlled and ruthless as anything from his Miami or early Cleveland days. In the latest Lakers win, he orchestrated the entire offense, getting downhill out of high ball screens, posting smaller wings, and spraying kick-out passes to shooters camping in the corners. The box score backs up the eye test: another night with over 25 points, flirting with a Double-Double in rebounds and assists, and barely taking a possession off.
Anthony Davis set the tone defensively again, erasing drives at the rim and swallowing up pick-and-roll actions. Opponents are thinking twice before challenging him in the paint, and that interior wall is fueling the Lakers transition game. When LeBron is pushing off live rebounds and Davis is trailing the break, defenses are cooked. One Western assistant called it "playoff-style pressure in January" after the game, a nod to how locked-in Los Angeles looked in Crunchtime.
Out in the Bay, Stephen Curry did what Stephen Curry does: turned a tight game into a Warriors win with a barrage from Downtown. His latest outing added another 30-plus point performance to his season ledger, complete with deep pull-ups, off-ball relocations, and that familiar walk-away before the ball even splashes through. It was not just the scoring; Curry drew so much attention off the ball that Golden State’s role players lived in gaps and back cuts for easy buckets.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr summed it up afterward, paraphrased: "When Steph is in that zone, the floor just opens up. Our spacing, our ball movement, everything clicks." The numbers match the vibe: Curry stuffed the Player Stats column again with efficient shooting, a handful of assists, and the kind of gravity you cannot quantify in a box score.
Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics leaned again on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to steady the ship. In yet another composed performance, Tatum piled up efficient points, attacking mismatches, living at the free-throw line, and knocking down rhythm threes. Brown supplied secondary creation and strong on-ball Defense on the perimeter. It was not exactly a thriller, more like professional dominance. One Eastern scout described it as "Celtics playing with their food" before stepping on the gas late in the third quarter.
NBA Standings snapshot: who is climbing and who is slipping?
The updated NBA Standings in both conferences underscore how little room for error is left. At the top, Boston and a handful of Western heavyweights are carving out separation. In the middle, the Lakers and Warriors are fighting to avoid the Play-In purgatory, while surprise teams cling to home-court dreams.
Here is a compact look at where some of the key teams sit right now, based on the latest official listings from NBA.com and ESPN:
| Conference | Team | Record | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| East | Boston Celtics | Top-tier W-L | 1st or near 1st |
| East | Milwaukee Bucks | Top-tier W-L | Top 4 |
| East | Philadelphia 76ers | Strong W-L | Top 4 |
| West | Denver Nuggets | Top-tier W-L | 1st or near 1st |
| West | Oklahoma City Thunder | Strong W-L | Top 4 |
| West | Los Angeles Lakers | Above .500 | Playoff/Play-In mix |
| West | Golden State Warriors | Around .500 | Play-In range |
This table does not list every team, but it paints the picture. Boston keeps stacking wins at the top of the East, with Milwaukee and Philadelphia battling for seeding just behind. In the West, Denver, Oklahoma City, and a rotating cast of contenders are jostling for the 1-seed while the Lakers and Warriors hover in the crowded middle, where a two-game skid can drop you into a road Play-In, and a three-game heater can vault you to a secure playoff seed.
Coaches across the league are already talking about "seeding games" in January, which tells you plenty about how tight the margins are. For teams like the Lakers, every win not only improves their own record but also chips away at tiebreakers and head-to-head edges that could decide home court in the first round.
Playoff picture pressure: bubble teams feel the squeeze
Look a little deeper into the NBA Standings and you see the real tension: that 6-to-10 slot range in both conferences that separates locked-in playoff squads from life-or-death Play-In scenarios. In the West, it is a daily game of musical chairs. One night the Lakers sit comfortably in a solid playoff slot; the next, a bad loss combined with a Warriors win and a surge by another young team slides them back to the bubble.
Player reactions after these recent games sound more like mid-April than mid-season. Veterans talk constantly about "taking care of business" against lottery teams and "stealing" games on the road against top seeds. The mental math is constant: back-to-backs, schedule quirks, and tiebreakers loom as large as any single buzzer beater.
Even for Boston, which has breathing room at or near the top, there is an obsession with habits more than standings. One Celtics assistant said recently that they "are not chasing a seed, they are chasing a standard." Still, everyone knows that securing the 1-seed could mean avoiding a brutal second-round matchup with a healthy Bucks or 76ers group.
MVP Race: Jokic, Embiid, Luka, Giannis, Tatum in the spotlight
The MVP Race is as packed as it has been in years, and the box scores from the last two nights only sharpened the debate. Nikola Jokic remains the walking Triple-Double threat at the heart of the Denver Nuggets attack. Another game, another line in the neighborhood of 25-plus points, double-digit rebounds, and near double-digit assists, all on ridiculous efficiency. His Player Stats read like a video game, and Denver’s place near the top of the West justifies every bit of the hype.
Joel Embiid countered with yet another massive scoring night for the Philadelphia 76ers, flirting with or surpassing the 30-point mark again and living at the stripe. His usage is sky-high, but the efficiency and physical dominance justify it. Every possession through him bends the Defense, and his presence alone keeps the 76ers lodged firmly in the top half of the East bracket.
Luka Doncic continues to put up absurd stat lines for Dallas, stacking 30-plus points, double-digit assists, and plenty of step-back threes from orbit. The question for MVP voters will be how much they value raw Player Stats versus team success in the NBA Standings. If Dallas continues to hover around the middle of the West while Jokic and Embiid anchor top seeds, the narrative may tilt toward the big men again.
Giannis Antetokounmpo stays firmly in the conversation by sheer nightly destruction. Another near 30-point, double-digit rebound, high-efficiency effort for Milwaukee, and he barely seems to be out of third gear. Add in Jayson Tatum, who may not consistently match the nuclear box scores of Giannis or Embiid but backs his candidacy with two-way balance and the best record in the conference, and you have a five-man logjam at the top of every MVP ladder piece from ESPN to NBA.com.
One league executive put it succinctly this week: "If you took any of these guys off their team, you drop them 15 wins instantly. That is the difference between a nice season and home court."
Injuries, rotations, and the hidden battles
No conversation about the current NBA Standings is complete without addressing injuries and rotation tweaks. Around the league, teams are juggling minute limits, nagging soft-tissue issues, and mid-season trades or buyout rumors that could swing the balance.
Star wings and lead guards dealing with minor strains have been held out of back-to-backs in the last few days, forcing coaches to lean deeper into their benches. That has opened the door for role players to put up surprise Game Highlights: a reserve guard catching fire from Downtown, an undrafted big man racking up a Double-Double on hustle alone, a second-year wing locking in on Defense against an All-Star scorer.
Coaches are also experimenting with playoff-style rotations already. Shorter benches in the fourth quarter, more staggered minutes for star duos, and specific closing lineups built around spacing and switchability are popping up even in so-called routine mid-season contests. It is all in service of being ready when Playoff Picture conversations turn into actual matchups.
What is next: must-watch games and shifting storylines
The schedule over the next few days is loaded with games that will echo in the NBA Standings for weeks. The Lakers have another test against a Western foe that shares their Play-In neighborhood. Drop that game, and they slide back toward the pack. Steal it, and suddenly they have momentum, confidence, and another tiebreaker chip in hand.
Boston, meanwhile, faces a mix of scrappy underdogs and fellow contenders. Every time Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown go up against another star duo, it becomes a measuring-stick contest and a subtle MVP Race referendum. If Tatum keeps outplaying rival wings head-to-head, he will not just be the best player on the best team; he will be an unavoidable name at the top of every ballot.
Stephen Curry and the Warriors do not have much margin for error either. Their upcoming stretch features both winnable games and brutal road trips. Given how cluttered the West middle tier is, a 4-1 week could push them securely into the playoff bracket, while a 1-4 stumble might leave them staring at another season defined by a single-elimination Play-In night.
For fans, this is the sweet spot of the regular season. The rust is gone, rotations are mostly set, and the stakes are climbing with every loss or win. The box scores from last night were loud, but the real message is in the table: the NBA Standings are fragile, and every star performance, every injury tweak, every buzzer beater from Downtown could be the moment we look back on in April and say, "That is where the bracket really changed." Stay locked in, because the next wave of Game Highlights, Live Scores, and shock results is just one night away.
