NBA Standings shake-up: Celtics, Nuggets hold, but LeBron’s Lakers and Curry’s Warriors feel the heat
26.01.2026 - 16:04:03
The NBA standings just tightened another notch, and every night now feels like a mini playoff test. With the Boston Celtics still flexing as the league’s pace-setters and the Denver Nuggets methodically grinding in the West, the real noise is coming from the traffic jam underneath them — where LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers and Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors are fighting to keep their margin for error alive.
[Check live stats & scores here]
On the latest slate, contenders did what contenders are supposed to do: handle business, rack up wins, and sharpen the playoff picture. Pretenders? They keep bleeding ground in the NBA standings, and the clock is getting loud.
Last night’s action: Statement wins and warning shots
Boston once again looked like a team on a mission. Jayson Tatum operated like a metronome, attacking mismatches, getting downhill, and spacing to the corners when the double came. He poured in efficient scoring, crashed the glass, and triggered transition looks that left the defense scrambling. Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday fed off that rhythm; every time the opponent threatened a run, Boston came back with a cold-blooded answer from downtown or a suffocating defensive stand.
On the other side of the league map, Nikola Jokic kept doing Nikola Jokic things for Denver. It was another night where the box score read like a video game: points, rebounds, and assists all stacked into a near triple-double line. His two-man game with Jamal Murray diced up coverages, and once Michael Porter Jr. got hot on the wing, the game tilted for good. Denver did not just win; it controlled tempo, possessions, and the emotional flow. That is classic Nuggets basketball when they are locked in.
The Lakers, meanwhile, lived on the edge. LeBron James still looks like he is rewriting the aging curve, bullying smaller defenders in the post, then stepping out to punish sagging coverage with deep threes. But Los Angeles continues to walk a tightrope. Anthony Davis had to anchor the paint on both ends, fighting on the boards and erasing mistakes at the rim. When the offense stalled, it was usually LeBron bailing them out in crunchtime. That formula is electric to watch, but it is a dangerous way to live over an 82-game grind.
In the Bay, Steph Curry and the Warriors found themselves in another shootout. When Curry pulled up from way beyond the arc, you could feel the crowd inhale. He had stretches where he looked untouchable, warping the defense and creating open looks for Klay Thompson and the supporting cast. The issue remains on the other end: too many second-chance points allowed, too many late rotations. Golden State can still get hot enough to beat anyone in a one-off, but the consistency needed to climb the NBA standings has been missing.
Across the league, a handful of upsets and near-upsets made noise. A fringe playoff team stole a road win behind a bench player going off for a career-high, while a presumed contender sleepwalked through three quarters before trying to flip the switch late — and coming up just short. It felt like a preview of April chaos: no nights off, no easy Ws.
Current NBA standings: Contenders, climbers, and the danger zone
The top tier still looks familiar: Boston ruling the East, Denver pacing the West. But the real intrigue is in the scramble for seeding, especially around the play-in lines, where every possession suddenly has playoff weight.
Here is a compact look at how the top of each conference and the bubble squads are shaping up, based on the latest official standings from NBA.com and ESPN:
| East Rank | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | - | - |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | - | - |
| 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | - | - |
| 7 | Miami Heat | - | - |
| 9 | Chicago Bulls | - | - |
| West Rank | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denver Nuggets | - | - |
| 2 | Oklahoma City Thunder | - | - |
| 3 | Minnesota Timberwolves | - | - |
| 8 | Los Angeles Lakers | - | - |
| 10 | Golden State Warriors | - | - |
Exact win-loss records are shifting nightly, but the tiers are clear. The Celtics and Nuggets look like they are playing the long game: resting when they can, tightening rotations in key matchups, and treating each night like another data point on the way to May and June. Behind them, the Bucks, 76ers, Thunder and Timberwolves are keeping the pressure on, eyeing home-court advantage and knowing one bad week can drop you two or three seeds.
Then there is the play-in pack. The Heat and Bulls in the East, along with the Lakers and Warriors in the West, are living in the gray zone. Win two in a row and you are suddenly talking about chasing the sixth seed. Drop three straight and you are staring at single-elimination risk with a tired superstar trying to drag you through.
Coaches around the league are openly acknowledging it. One Western Conference coach put it bluntly after his team nearly coughed up a big lead: "Every possession right now feels like crunchtime. You can feel the standings in the building." The vibe is playoff atmosphere in January and February, and that is exactly what the league wants.
Player stats and last night’s top performers
The MVP race and nightly player stats are driving as much conversation as the standings themselves. Jokic is still living on the box score’s first line. His latest outing landed in that familiar zone: roughly mid-20s in points, mid-teens in rebounds, and near double-digit assists on elite shooting. He bends the game every possession, and defenses are running out of answers.
Tatum, on the other hand, is making his case with clean scoring explosions and locked-in defense. Another night of 30-plus points on strong efficiency, mixed with secondary playmaking and tough boards, has become his standard. The difference this year is the surrounding depth; his player stats look like an MVP, but he is doing it inside a well-oiled machine that can win even on his off nights.
LeBron’s line from the latest game was exactly the kind of performance that keeps the Lakers’ season afloat: big scoring, high assist numbers, and timely rebounds when the frontcourt rotation wavered. You can sense him toggling between facilitator and closer; once the fourth quarter hit, he shifted into bully-ball mode, hunting mismatches on switches and forcing the defense to collapse.
Curry’s numbers were again combustible. He strung together a flurry of threes from well beyond the arc, added crafty finishes at the rim, and drew enough gravity that his assist totals undersold how much he actually created. But the Warriors still rode the roller coaster: when the shots stopped falling, the offense stalled and the defense could not carry them for long stretches.
Across the league, a handful of role players crashed the spotlight. One reserve guard erupted for 20-plus points off the bench, splashing catch-and-shoot threes and turning live-ball turnovers into easy transition runouts. Another big man quietly posted a double-double with strong rim protection that flipped the game’s energy. These are the kinds of unsung nights that never dominate MVP talk but absolutely swing playoff races.
Injuries, rotations, and the shifting playoff picture
The injury report keeps rewriting game plans. Multiple teams juggled lineups again, with star players listed as questionable right up until warmups. Some sat on the second night of a back-to-back, forcing coaches to lean deeper into the rotation and trust younger pieces.
For contending teams, the calculus is delicate: maximize wins now to secure seeding, or steal rest days to be healthy when it matters. One veteran coach called it a "tightrope between April and June" after holding a starter out with a minor issue. That absence opened the door for a bench wing to log heavy minutes, and he responded with a season-best performance in both points and defense.
The trade and rumor mill is quietly humming beneath all of this. Front offices are eyeing two kinds of moves: adding shooting to unclog late-game offense, and buying defensive versatility on the wing to survive playoff matchups against the Tatums, Durants and Jokics of the world. Every GM is watching the same film: who can stay on the floor in crunchtime when the game slows down and every weakness gets hunted?
In the short term, the impact is obvious. A tweaked hamstring here or a sore ankle there can turn a comfortable middle seed into a team flirting with the play-in. In the West especially, where a handful of games separate home court from a win-or-go-home scenario, one bad week around a key injury can change everything.
MVP race: Jokic, Tatum, and the superstar chase
The MVP race is tightening, and the latest box scores only deepen the debate. Jokic remains the analytics darling, stacking monster player stats with absurd efficiency. Another near-triple-double in limited turnovers keeps him at or near the top of most leaderboards, from PER to on-off metrics. Every time Denver needs a steadying hand, he delivers with the same unhurried brilliance.
Tatum’s argument is built on winning and two-way impact. His nightly line sits in that 25–30 point range with solid rebounding and underrated playmaking. Add in Boston’s position at or near the best record in the NBA standings, and the narrative juice is real. MVP voters love dominance tied directly to team success, and Tatum checks that box in bold ink.
LeBron and Curry are more on the fringe of the MVP conversation right now, mostly because of their teams’ records, but their individual nights still feel seismic. When LeBron goes for 30-plus with a pile of assists, or when Curry detonates with seven or eight threes, social media treats it like an MVP performance, even if the standings do not fully cooperate.
Do not sleep on other names either. Giannis Antetokounmpo keeps churning out monster double-doubles with rim pressure no one else can replicate. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is carving teams up from the midrange and the line while keeping the Thunder near the top of the West. The MVP race is not just about raw scoring; it is about context, wins, and who feels most unstoppable when the game is on the line.
What’s next: Must-watch games and how the race could turn
The next few days could rearrange the NBA standings yet again. The Lakers are staring at a brutal mini-gauntlet with multiple playoff-caliber opponents lined up, and every game will test their defense and their legs. The Warriors face crucial swing matchups where one hot shooting night can pull them up the ladder, but another cold spell might shove them deeper into the play-in danger zone.
In the East, Boston and Milwaukee are on a collision course in their next high-profile showdown, a game that will be dissected frame by frame for what it means to the title race. Philly’s upcoming stretch against fellow contenders will tell us how sustainable their current pace and player stats really are, especially if the injury report is not their friend.
For fans, the message is simple: every night now carries weight. Watch how coaches tighten rotations, who gets trusted in late-game defense, and which stars still have gas left in the final two minutes. The NBA standings are no longer just a graphic at the end of the broadcast; they are the pressure backdrop for every possession.
If you are tracking the playoff picture, the MVP race, and live scores across the league, keep a close eye on the upcoming primetime clashes. The trends we are seeing now — Boston’s dominance, Denver’s control, the Lakers and Warriors flirting with danger — are likely to define the narrative heading into the stretch run. Stay locked in, because the next week of basketball might be where seeds, awards, and legacies start to harden.
To stay on top of every box score, from LeBron’s late-game heroics to Curry’s deep bombs and Jokic’s nightly triple-double threats, keep refreshing the official hub. The season is tilting toward its most intense chapter, and the NBA standings are the scoreboard for all of it.
