Stephen Curry. Ja Morant. Trae Young. Anthony Davis.
Those are only a few of the big-name stars set to fight for one of the remaining NBA playoff spots in this week’s 2025 Play-In Tournament.
Here’s a quick reminder of how the Play-In Tournament works.
The No. 7 through 10 seeds in both the East and the West will compete for the last two playoff positions in their respective conferences.
The higher two seeds in both conferences need only to win one once during the three-day tournament to advance to the real playoffs. For a No. 9 or No. 10 seed to advance, it would need to win two games.
These are the matchups:
No. 8 Atlanta Hawks (40-42) @ No. 7 Orlando Magic (41-41), Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
After finishing as the No. 5 seed in the East last season, the Magic took a step back. They jumped out to a 23-18 start but struggled down the stretch, finishing with the NBA’s third-worst offense.
Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner both missed significant stretches with injuries early on, while Jalen Suggs underwent season-ending knee surgery.
Still, Orlando boasts the NBA’s stoutest defense, while Banchero and Wagner both averaged more than 24 points per game, making the Magic at least somewhat dangerous if everything clicks.
They won their last five games before sitting their starters in the season finale.
The Hawks, meanwhile, hovered around .500 all season, once again featuring a top-five offense and bottom-five defense.
Atlanta remains without Jalen Johnson (torn labrum), its second-leading scorer behind Young, but has gotten more out of Zaccharie Risacher of late. Risacher, the first overall pick in last year’s draft, has eclipsed 20 points six times since the start of March.
The winner of this game will be locked into the East’s No. 7 seed and play the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
The loser, however, will not be eliminated.
No. 10 Miami Heat (37-45) @ No. 9 Chicago Bulls (39-43), Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
The Heat were 21-21 on Jan. 21, the final day Jimmy Butler played in a game for them.
They went 16-24 the rest of the way, a stretch that included sending the disgruntled Butler to the Golden State Warriors.
Miami did get 19.0 points per game from Andrew Wiggins, who came back in the Butler trade, but there’s no denying this is a lesser team without the man known as Playoff Jimmy.
The Bulls, meanwhile, traded their leading scorer, Zach LaVine, to the Sacramento Kings in February.
The loser of this game will be eliminated from playoff contention.
The winner will then play the loser of Tuesday’s No. 7 vs. No. 8 matchup, and whoever wins that game will become the East’s No. 8 seed and face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs.
No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies (48-34) @ No. 7 Golden State Warriors (48-34), Tuesday at 10 p.m.
The Western Conference’s first game is far more compelling.
The addition of Butler transformed the Warriors, who were 25-26 before his debut and went 23-8 the rest of the way.
Butler averaged 17.9 points per game with Golden State and proved to be an immediate fit as Curry’s running mate.
The Grizzlies, meanwhile, slumped badly down the stretch, losing 10 of their final 16 games to fall out of the playoff picture and into the Play-In Tournament.
Memphis, which struggled against good teams all season, fired head coach Taylor Jenkins late last month.
The Grizzlies should never be counted out, however, whenever Ja Morant is on the court. He is averaging just under 30 points per game since the start of March.
The winner of this game is locked into the West’s No. 7 seed and will face the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.
No. 10 Dallas Mavericks (39-43) @ No. 9 Sacramento Kings (40-42), Wednesday at 10 p.m.
No team has had a rougher go of late than the Mavs.
Their much-panned trade sending Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Davis, among others, was followed by injuries to Davis, Daniel Gafford and Kyrie Irving.
Davis and Gafford are back, but Irving — who took over ball-handling duties with Doncic’s departure — is done for the season with a torn ACL.
Dallas went 13-20 after the trade.
The Kings also had a midseason roster overhaul, acquiring LaVine in the same three-team trade that sent De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs.
Sacramento went 16-18 after that deal but moved up two spots in the standings.
The loser of this game is eliminated, while the winner will face whoever loses the No. 7 vs. No. 8 matchup for the right to play the NBA-best Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs.