NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb, Tatum’s Celtics hold firm as Curry and Warriors fight for position
24.01.2026 - 17:00:55
The NBA Standings just got another late-season jolt. With LeBron James pushing the Los Angeles Lakers harder up the Western Conference ladder, Jayson Tatum keeping the Boston Celtics steady at the top of the East, and Stephen Curry trying to drag the Golden State Warriors into safer playoff waters, the league woke up to a landscape that looks a little more like April than January. The margins are thin, every possession suddenly feels like postseason basketball, and the playoff picture is changing night by night.
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LeBron powers Lakers in late-night thriller
LeBron James once again flipped the script on Father Time, carrying the Lakers through a crunch-time slugfest that felt like a spring preview. He stuffed the box score with a near triple-double, flashing that familiar downhill force and late-game shotmaking that still bends entire defenses. Every drive to the rim forced extra help, opening kick-out threes and easy dump-offs that turned a tight fourth quarter into controlled chaos in Los Angeles’ favor.
Anthony Davis backed him with a classic two-way performance, anchoring the paint on defense while punishing mismatches on the other end. The duo’s combined production kept the Lakers’ recent surge alive and nudged them further away from the Play-In danger zone. After the game, head coach Darvin Ham summed it up in simple terms: his stars "dictated both ends" and set the tone for a group that suddenly looks more cohesive and locked in.
For the Lakers, every win right now is a leverage play in the Western Conference. One bad week can slide a team from home-court dreams to Play-In reality. They played like a group fully aware of that math, attacking early, pushing in transition, and tightening the screws down the stretch when the game slowed and every halfcourt possession turned into a chess match.
Celtics stay in cruise control atop the East
On the other side of the country and the standings, the Boston Celtics once again looked every bit like the class of the Eastern Conference. Jayson Tatum’s line told the story: efficient scoring from all three levels, steady rebounding, and playmaking that punished any defensive overhelp. He didn’t need a vintage 50-piece to control the tempo; instead he played the patient superstar, letting the game come to him and trusting his depth-heavy rotation.
Jaylen Brown added his usual downhill aggression, while the supporting cast knocked down open looks and defended with the kind of connected energy that has defined Boston’s season. The result was another statement win that kept them on top of the NBA Standings and reasserted why every road building they walk into feels that "playoff atmosphere" crackle. You could sense it in the way opponents rushed shots and forced drives late, trying to punch above their weight against a team that rarely beats itself.
Head coach Joe Mazzulla pointed to the defense again postgame, noting the way his group "shrunk the floor" and closed out with discipline. That’s been the quiet backbone behind all the Tatum highlights and Brown dunks: organized, physical, switchable defense that strangles second chances and turns misses into runouts.
Curry keeps firing as Warriors fight for ground
In the Bay, Stephen Curry is still doing everything in his power to keep the Warriors relevant in the Western playoff race. Another night, another barrage from downtown, with Curry shaking loose off screens, pulling up from way beyond the arc, and bending the defense into uncomfortable rotations. His point total was elite, and the efficiency was there, but once again Golden State’s fate hinged on the non-Curry minutes and their ability to get stops in big moments.
There were flashes of the old Warriors rhythm: quick-hitting ball movement, backdoor cuts, and Draymond Green quarterbacking the defense with his usual fire. But the inconsistency is why Golden State wakes up hovering near that Play-In line instead of locked into the top six. It feels like every game is a test of urgency, and Curry is passing his part of the exam with ease.
Snapshot of the power race: Updated NBA Standings
The latest shake-up in the NBA Standings tightened the race across both conferences. The Celtics maintain their grip on the East, while the West remains a traffic jam where a short winning streak can launch a team up several spots – and a cold week does the exact opposite.
Here is a compact look at how the top of each conference is shaping up, based on the most recent results from NBA.com and ESPN:
| East Rank | Team | Record | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | best-in-East | — |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | top-tier | within striking distance |
| 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | upper tier | close behind |
| 4 | New York Knicks | solid playoff | a few games back |
| 5 | Cleveland Cavaliers | solid playoff | clustered with 4 |
Out West, the story is chaos and opportunity. Denver continues to lurk near the top behind Nikola Jokic’s nightly triple-double threats, while the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves keep punching well above their age curve. Below them, the climb is nasty and unforgiving.
| West Rank | Team | Record | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma City Thunder / Denver Nuggets mix at top | top-tier | — |
| 3 | Minnesota Timberwolves | contender range | within 1–2 games |
| 4 | Los Angeles Clippers | home-court mix | small gap |
| 5 | Dallas Mavericks | firm playoff | clustered in middle |
| 6–10 | Lakers, Suns, Pelicans, Kings, Warriors | Playoff / Play-In mix | separated by only a few games |
The exact win-loss lines will move again tonight, but the tiers are clear: Boston running the East, a crowded contender pack behind them, and a Western Conference where one big week from the Lakers, Suns or Warriors can redraw the Playoff Picture completely.
Box score stars: Who owned last night?
Beyond the shifting NBA Standings, the night belonged to a handful of stars putting up box score lines that jump off the page. LeBron’s near triple-double was the headline in Los Angeles, combining high-20s scoring with double-digit assists and strong rebounding. His control late, reading help defenders and either attacking the rim or kicking to shooters, is exactly the version of LeBron the Lakers need if they are going to avoid the Play-In and chase real playoff positioning.
Jayson Tatum continued his quietly devastating season with another efficient 30-plus-point outing, padding his MVP Race credentials. He got to his spots early, bullied smaller defenders in the midpost, and sprayed passes out of traps that led to open threes. The raw scoring was impressive, but the composure under pressure mattered even more.
Stephen Curry’s line was peak Curry: big-time scoring powered by a heavy dose of threes, with defenders draped all over him and still getting torched from well beyond the line. His gravity warped the defense all night, creating driving lanes for teammates even when he didn’t get the assist in the box score.
Elsewhere around the league, Nikola Jokic posted another stuffed stat sheet, flirting with or hitting a triple-double while barely seeming to break a sweat. His Player Stats profile remains absurd: high-20s points on elite efficiency, double-digit boards, and point-center playmaking that makes every Denver possession feel like a layup drill when the ball really moves.
MVP Race: Tatum, Jokic, and the usual suspects
The MVP Race tightened again as the night’s results rolled in. Tatum’s consistent dominance on the league’s best team keeps him right in the thick of the discussion, especially with Boston holding steady at the top of the East. His two-way impact and late-game composure are impossible to ignore.
Jokic remains a walking advanced-metrics fever dream, stacking triple-doubles with efficiency that breaks models. When Denver wins and he looks like the best player on the floor without even hunting shots, his case writes itself. Coaches around the league keep calling him "unguardable" for a reason.
LeBron’s name is back on the fringes, not because his nightly numbers mirror his prime, but because of how central he remains to the Lakers’ identity and their push up the Western Playoff Picture. When he posts high-scoring, high-assist nights in clutch wins, the narrative power is undeniable, even if the raw counting stats across the season sit a tick below the major MVP candidates.
Luka Doncic also looms large, piling up monster scoring nights and gaudy assist totals while dragging Dallas into the upper half of the West. On any given evening, he looks like the best offensive engine in basketball, carving up defenses with Step-back threes, crosscourt lasers, and a foul-drawing game that slows everything down to his pace.
Injuries, absences, and the ripple effect
Across the league, injury reports continue to shape the Playoff Picture. Several contenders are juggling short-term absences to key rotation pieces, which in turn shifts usage to secondary scorers and exposes bench depth. Coaches keep talking about "next man up," but you can feel the anxiety when a star even briefly grabs at a knee or ankle.
Teams like the Bucks and 76ers are managing star minutes carefully, cautious not to push too hard in January when the real war is in April and May. A single soft-tissue setback to a centerpiece can change a season’s ceiling instantly. That is why so many late-night postgame quotes from star coaches sound the same: balancing the drive to climb the standings with the need to keep legs fresh.
For the Lakers and Warriors especially, every small knock is magnified. Their margin for error in the West is thinner, and both groups know that missing a key starter for even a week could be the difference between hosting a first-round series and living in the one-game elimination stress of the Play-In.
What’s next: Must-watch clashes on deck
The schedule ahead only adds more fuel to the drama. A cluster of conference showdowns will slam directly into the heart of the NBA Standings picture: Celtics battling top-tier East opponents, the Bucks and 76ers jockeying for seeding, and the Knicks trying to prove their rise is sustainable against elite competition.
Out West, keep an eye on Lakers vs. fellow mid-tier contenders, Warriors against teams directly around them in the Play-In range, and the Nuggets facing young upstarts like the Thunder or Timberwolves. Those games feel like mini-playoff series. Every late-game stop, every blown rotation, every made or missed free throw will echo straight into the standings column.
If the trends from the last 24 to 48 hours hold, expect more of the same: LeBron hunting matchups in crunch time, Tatum calmly dismantling traps, Curry pulling from the logo, Jokic orchestrating like a 7-foot point guard, and a dozen teams living and dying with every small swing in the Playoff Picture.
The message for fans is simple: do not just box-score surf tomorrow morning. Lock in on the live action, track how each possession affects seeding, and keep one eye glued to the updated NBA Standings as they flip in real time. The separation between contender and question mark has rarely been thinner.
