The Mavericks, featuring matchup Gs Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, are currently in eighth placeGetty Images
There has been a "fair amount of glamour" in the NBA Playoffs play-in round since it began in 2021, but this season’s play-in round “could be the most star studded yet,” according to Noah Trister of the AP. In the Western Conference alone, the Mavericks (Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving) are currently in eighth place, with the Lakers (LeBron James and Anthony Davis) and Warriors (Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson) immediately behind them. The Suns (Kevin Durant and Devin Booker) are in sixth, just a game ahead of the cutoff for the play-in. And if the 76ers falls into the 7-10 range in the East, then C Joel Embiid could be in the play-in round as well. When the play-in round was created, it seemed like a “way to keep more teams in postseason contention and create dramatic, single-elimination matchups between teams that aren’t likely to make lengthy playoff runs.” But last season, a couple teams came out of the play-in tournament and stuck around for a while. The Heat went all the way to the NBA Finals, and the Lakers made the conference finals. Trister writes, “Imagine the drama if James, Curry, Doncic, Irving, Durant and Embiid were all facing the possibility of a quick elimination” (AP, 3/12).
