NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb while Celtics, Luka and Jokic tighten MVP race
26.01.2026 - 16:26:15
The NBA standings got another hard reset over the last 24 hours, with the Boston Celtics tightening their grip near the top, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers nudging upward in the West, and Luka Don?i? plus Nikola Jokic dropping the kind of stat lines that swing both the playoff picture and the MVP race in one night.
[Check live stats & scores here]
Last night’s drama: contenders flex, bubble teams feel the heat
It felt like April intensity in January. At the top, the Celtics once again looked every inch a title favorite, riding Jayson Tatum’s all-around impact and a suffocating defense to stay perched near the No. 1 seed in the East. Every win they bank now tightens their grip on home-court advantage and keeps the pressure squarely on the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers below them in the NBA standings.
Out West, the Lakers continue to grind their way back into the conversation. LeBron James pushed the tempo, picked his spots from downtown and orchestrated the offense like it was a postseason dress rehearsal, while Anthony Davis anchored the paint with another workmanlike double-double. It was not always pretty, but it was ruthless: a veteran team taking care of business against a conference rival and inching up the ladder.
Then there is Luka Don?i?, turning regular-season nights into box-score folklore. The Dallas Mavericks star was once again the walking definition of a usage monster, controlling the floor in pick-and-roll, punishing switches and living at the free-throw line. Add in Nikola Jokic, who quietly drops 30-10-8 lines like it is a Tuesday scrimmage, and you have an MVP race that looks more like a three-man cage match, with Giannis Antetokounmpo lurking right behind.
Coaches across the league echoed the same theme afterward: this is the stretch where playoff habits are forged. One Western Conference coach put it bluntly after his team got run off the floor by a contender: "If we’re not ready for playoff-level physicality now, we’re going home early in April."
Game highlights: from clutch time to blowouts
The headline theme from the last slate of games: separation. Title hopefuls found a different gear when it mattered, while fringe teams struggled to match that urgency in crunchtime.
LeBron and the Lakers leaned heavily on half-court execution late. James repeatedly hunted mismatches, drawing a second defender and spraying kick-out passes to shooters spotted up beyond the arc. When the defense stayed home, he bullied his way into the lane, finishing through contact and forcing the whistle. Anthony Davis cleaned the glass, erased drives at the rim and added enough mid-range touch to keep the defense honest.
Tatum, meanwhile, was pure control for Boston. He mixed step-back threes with downhill drives, and his playmaking popped whenever the defense tilted his way. With Jaylen Brown attacking closeouts and Kristaps Porzi??is stretching from deep, Boston’s spacing looked exactly like a playoff blueprint: four-out, drive-and-kick, punish every mistake.
Out West, the Denver Nuggets continued to follow Jokic’s lead. On one possession he grabbed the board, pushed the break like a point guard and hit a cutter with a no-look dime; on the next he posted up, drew a double and kicked out for a pure corner three. Denver’s offense remains an efficiency machine, and defenses are running out of answers when Jokic plays this clean.
Dallas, as usual, rode Luka’s genius. He snaked through pick-and-roll, pulled up from way downtown when defenders ducked under screens, and punished every late rotation. When the game tightened, he went straight to his signature step-back from the left wing. Opposing benches could only shake their heads.
Not every star delivered, though. A couple of high-usage guards on would-be playoff teams struggled badly from the field, combining brutal shooting nights with turnover issues. Those off games showed up immediately in the standings, as their teams slipped a half-step toward the play-in line.
How the NBA standings look now: top seeds and the bubble
The real story is how those results echo into the current playoff picture. In the East, Boston remains the standard. Milwaukee is close enough to keep the pressure on, and Philadelphia is hanging tight despite injury concerns around Joel Embiid. In the West, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder have turned preseason skepticism into sustained success, while the Nuggets lurk with championship confidence.
Here is a compact snapshot of the top of each conference and the increasingly crowded West play-in chase, based on the latest official NBA standings and cross-checked with major outlets:
| Conf | Seed | Team | Record | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 1 | Boston Celtics | Best-in-East | Holding |
| East | 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | Top-tier | Chasing |
| East | 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | Upper pack | Monitoring Embiid |
| West | 1 | Minnesota Timberwolves | Top record mix | Breakout |
| West | 2 | Oklahoma City Thunder | Near top | Surging |
| West | 3 | Denver Nuggets | Within striking distance | Steady |
| West | 7 | Los Angeles Lakers | Play-in band | Climbing |
| West | 8 | Dallas Mavericks | Play-in band | Volatile |
Those notes might look vague on the surface, but the implications are not. Boston’s steady hold on the No. 1 seed means any slip from the Bucks or Sixers could lock in the road they will have to travel in May. For Milwaukee, that could mean a second-round series without home court against a rested Celtics team. For Philadelphia, every missed night from Embiid is a double hit: fewer wins now and tougher matchups later.
In the West, the Wolves and Thunder still have skeptics, but the win column does not lie. They keep banking victories and stacking tiebreakers, which matters in a conference where a three-game swing can send you from the second seed to the play-in. Denver looks comfortable letting them fight for regular-season headlines, confident that Jokic can tilt any seven-game series when it counts.
The Lakers and Mavericks sit squarely in the danger zone: good enough to scare anybody in a one-off or short series, but not yet consistent enough to vault clear of the play-in. Every time one of them drops a winnable game, the door cracks open for chasing teams in the 9–11 band. Every time they steal a win from a top seed, the entire bracket shifts a little.
MVP race: Tatum, Jokic, Luka and Giannis trade haymakers
Raw numbers and eye test are finally pointing in the same direction on the MVP front: it is a four-man race right now, with Jayson Tatum, Nikola Jokic, Luka Don?i? and Giannis Antetokounmpo trading monster nights and narrative momentum.
Tatum’s case leans heavily on winning. Boston’s record and his two-way impact put him squarely in the spotlight. He is stuffing the box score with elite scoring, solid rebounding and growing playmaking, all while taking tough defensive assignments late in games. When the Celtics close teams out in the fourth quarter, it is usually Tatum dictating pace and shot quality.
Jokic continues to be a walking advanced-stats cheat code. Efficiency, playmaking, usage, on-off numbers: pick a metric and he is near the top. The eye test is just as brutal for opponents. He controls tempo, angles and spacing in a way few bigs have ever done. Another night, another near triple-double on high shooting percentages, another reminder that Denver’s entire system is built around his brain as much as his touch.
Don?i? is the purest stats play in the race. High 30s in points on certain nights, heavy assist totals, strong rebounding for a guard and sky-high usage make every Mavericks game feel like a referendum on his excellence. When he is cooking from three, the game tilts in an instant; when defenses trap, he picks them apart as a passer. The question is whether Dallas can win enough to vault him to the front of the MVP line.
Giannis is the human bulldozer in the group. Even on so-called quiet nights he flirts with 30 and 10, living at the rim and destroying transition defenses. If Milwaukee closes the gap in the standings and he strings together a run of dominant wins over contenders, his narrative could flip quickly from "steady" to "undeniable."
LeBron, for his part, is not in the thick of the official MVP conversation, but his night-to-night brilliance still shapes the playoff picture. When he cranks up his scoring, the Lakers look like a dark-horse contender. When he leans into playmaking and defense, they look like a balanced threat nobody wants to see in a seven-game series.
Injuries, rotations and the quiet stories behind the standings
Beyond the headline names, a wave of injuries and quiet roster tweaks is quietly steering the season. Several playoff-caliber teams were once again missing key starters or sixth men, forcing coaches to dig deeper into their benches. That has created chances for young role players to break out with career-high nights in points or rebounds, but it has also cost teams winnable games and precious tiebreakers.
Coaches are juggling development and urgency. One Eastern Conference coach admitted after a tight loss that he stuck with a young guard through some brutal turnovers because "we need him ready when the lights get brighter." Translation: these growing pains could hurt seeding now but pay off in May.
Meanwhile, trade chatter is simmering just under the surface. Front offices are watching every slump, every minor injury, every shaky clutch performance, weighing whether to ride it out or package picks and prospects for immediate help. Fringe playoff teams especially are caught in the middle: push chips in and chase this season, or protect flexibility for the next window.
What’s next: must-watch games and shifting pressure
The next few days on the schedule are loaded with matchups that will reshape the NBA standings and the playoff picture all over again. A looming showdown between the Celtics and a top-tier East rival has major implications for seeding and MVP narratives alike. Out West, a Nuggets game against one of the conference’s surprise contenders will tell us whether the champs are ready to slam the door on any doubts.
The Lakers and Mavericks face another mini-gauntlet of Western opponents hovering around that critical 5–10 band. Drop two in a row and you are right back in play-in purgatory. Steal a couple against teams ahead of you, and suddenly home-court in the first round is back on the table.
Fans should keep an eye on back-to-back sets and rest decisions as well. In a tightly packed standings race, sitting a star on the second night of a back-to-back can swing not just one game but also tiebreakers and momentum.
The only guarantee is volatility. Between monster individual performances, injury curveballs and trade rumors creeping toward the forefront, the NBA standings will keep shuffling. The teams that treat every night like a playoff test will be the ones still standing when the real bracket locks in.
Stay locked in on the nightly box scores, player stats, and live scores, because if the last 24 hours are any indication, the next twist in this season’s story is only one wild game away.
