Everything you need to know about the 20 teams battling it out in the postseason, including first-round matchups and biggest playoff questions.
The 2025 NBA playoffs are set! An exciting final week saw the Eastern Conference bracket finalized on Friday. The West wasn’t set until the last game, an overtime clash between Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors and Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers. There are now officially 20 teams fighting for a chance to win the Larry O’Brien trophy, five of which have never won it all.
In the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers claimed the top seed after a dominating, 64-win regular season. But the reigning champions, the Boston Celtics, landed close behind in the No. 2 spot, hungry for a back-to-back Finals win. No team has repeated since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018, making this one of the longest droughts without a repeat champion in NBA history.
The West was a chaotic mess down to the final minute of the regular season. When the Clippers took down the Warriors, claiming the No. 5 seed, and the « opportunity » to face three-time MVP Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets, the No. 6 seed and guaranteed playoff spot went to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who will face off against LeBron James and the No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers. The 7-seed Warriors now have to face Ja Morant and the 8-seed Memphis Grizzlies in the play-in.
The play-in tournament begins Tuesday, with the two No. 7 vs. 8 games, and the first round starts Saturday. Until then, our NBA insiders break down all 20 teams — the good, bad and ugly: their seasons in review, best-case scenarios and key aspects to watch for the play-in and first round.
Note: NBA title and first-round odds for 2025 provided by ESPN BET.
Jump to a team:
ATL | BOS | CHI | CLE | DAL
DEN | DET | GS | HOU | IND
LAC | LAL | MEM | MIA | MIL
MIN | NYK | OKC | ORL | SAC
MORE: Play-in tournament coverage | Playoff news, schedules and results | Offseason guides
Cleveland’s road to the postseason:
The Cavs are built on depth and team-wide shooting, with All-Star guards and elite, defensive-minded bigs. In that way, they are a very modern team and they’ve just crushed opponent after opponent for months on end running their system. That system is designed to be able to switch on defense with multi-dimensional players that can play different positions, and coach Kenny Atkinson has worked on various alignments and lineups throughout the season to prepare for playoffs.
But they don’t have great perimeter size, which is a concerning vulnerability, and especially so against Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and their East nemesis Boston, which is why they made a midseason trade for De’Andre Hunter. But they finished the season going 8-8 over their final 16 games. Not exactly the type of momentum a team wants heading into the postseason. — Brian Windhorst
Will they be elite from 3?
Before March 11, they were No. 1 in the league percentage-wise and had been on top for months. Since then, they are 19th. Which will it be when it matters?
Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are great playmakers and shot-makers, and the Cavs cover for their defensive shortcomings with a great defensive back line in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. But it works a lot better when their lead guards are making their 3s. Mitchell shot 39% before the All-Star break and 30% after. Garland shot 43% before and 34% after. They combine to take 16 triples a game, so these percentage swings make a big difference in their margin for error. — Windhorst
Best-case scenario:
Any team with Cleveland’s regular-season résumé belongs in the top tier of title contenders. And if Kenny Atkinson plays his starters more in the playoffs — no Cavalier reached even 32 minutes per game this season — his team might reach another gear this spring. The Cavaliers are deep, balanced and electric on offense, and nine years after the first championship in franchise history, they have a legitimate chance to win another. — Zach Kram
Net points X factor:
The Cavaliers have easily been the best clutch team in the league. Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell use the most possessions, averaging plus-10.2 and plus-4.6 offensive net points per 48 minutes, respectively. — Dean Oliver
Boston’s road to the postseason:
The defending champions cruised through the season with relative ease, despite dealing with a series of extended injury absences, particularly for Kristaps Porzingis. While Cleveland ran away with the conference’s top seed, Boston cruised to a fourth consecutive 50-win season and will enter the playoffs as the odds-on favorite to return to the NBA Finals for a third time in four seasons. — Tim Bontemps
Can the Celtics stay healthy in the postseason?
Yes, Boston shoots a lot of 3-pointers and is a high-variance team as a result. But if the Celtics can have a healthy playoff run from all eight of their key rotation players, they will be the clear favorites to defend their title. But getting that is far from a sure thing. Porzingis was out for most of last year’s playoff run with injuries, and he has missed more games than he has played this season. Jrue Holiday has been in and out of the lineup, and Al Horford — while consistently available and reliable — is 38. All of which is why, if the Celtics can stay healthy, no one should be able to handle them in the East, and a second straight title easily could be theirs. — Bontemps
Best-case scenario:
Boston has a strong chance to become the first repeat champion of the 2020s. Only four teams have gone back-to-back in the entire 21st century: the Shaq-and-Kobe Lakers (who won a three-peat), the Kobe-and-Gasol Lakers, the LeBron-and-Wade Heatand the Durant-era Warriors. No Celtics squad has repeated since the 1960s! Jayson Tatum and Co. can make history this spring. — Kram
Net points X factor:
Luke Kornet adds more net points per 100 possessions on offensive rebounds and putbacks than any player in the league at plus-3.7. — Oliver
New York’s road to the postseason:
The Knicks are really good. They’re in the midst of their best campaign in more than a decade but there’s just one huge problem: All season long, they’ve looked one, sometimes two, steps behind Boston and Cleveland. Against the two best teams in the East, the Knicks have gone 0-8, with a number of those losses coming in huge routs. (And the last two — this past week — coming after enjoying big leads, then ultimately faltering down the stretch.) It’s a frustrating dichotomy for the franchise and its fanbase: to be vastly better than most, and a top-five team perhaps, but still far from title contention.– Chris Herring
Can the Knicks level up now that the postseason has arrived?
It’s a yearly question for Tom Thibodeau-coached clubs, given the extensive minutes his starters play relative to the rest of the NBA. And this team — with Mikal Bridges (first in the league in total minutes), Josh Hart (second) and OG Anunoby (ninth) — it’s no different. Perhaps Jalen Brunson’s time off rehabbing his injured ankle for nearly a month turns out to be a good thing, as, in a counterintuitive way, it potentially saved his body from additional nicks and bruises he might have racked up. With an average of 8.6 minutes of possession, Brunson handled the ball more per game than any NBA player. — Herring
What to watch in Round 1:
Aside from how Brunson looks now that he’s back, one of the most compelling things to watch will be how often Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson share the floor. The Knicks haven’t found their defensive groove yet, getting burned against a number of the league’s best offenses with Towns defending the paint and Robinson alongside him — similar to how the Wolves used Rudy Gobert with Towns. KAT and Robinson only shared 47 minutes of court time together, outscoring opponents by 9.2 points per 100 possessions but surrendering a quite-high 118.8 points in that span. But if the big man duo can figure things out, it would go a long way toward tightening up the team’s screen-and-roll defense. — Herring
If New York is healthy, it has the talent to beat anyone in a series. The starting five is that good. But there’s little reliable depth beyond that group. The defense has struggled to slow the NBA’s best opposing offenses and, most of all, the bracket won’t do them any favors. The Knicks should advance to the second round, but once there, it would be a massive surprise if they managed to push the Celtics into a long series, let alone upset the defending champs. — Kram
Net points X factor:
Jalen Brunson uses 45% of possessions in clutch situations and generates plus-13 offensive net points per 100 possessions then, both league highs. — Oliver
Indiana’s road to the postseason:
On Jan. 1, the Pacers were 16-18 and seemed like a far cry from their appearance in the Eastern Conference finals one season ago. Indiana has been one of the hottest teams in the league since, however, finishing the season 50-32 since then while Tyrese Haliburton looks like one of the best young point guards in the NBA. The Pacers will take home court in the first round against the Bucks, a rematch of last season’s first-round series, and try to build on last year’s surprising playoff run. — Jamal Collier
Can Haliburton keep up his production?
The biggest key for the Pacers’ turnaround over the past few months has been Haliburton’s return not just to All-Star level but potentially All-NBA as a guard with his elite offensive ability. He is averaging 18.6 points and 9.2 assists on 51% shooting, including 44% from 3 on 7.2 attempts, while leading Indiana to sixth best offense in the league since the beginning of January. — Collier
What to watch in Round 1:
This is a rematch from the first round of the 2024 playoffs when the No. 6 seed Pacers upset the No. 3 seed Bucks. Indiana enters this year’s matchup as the higher seed but has not had as much success against Milwaukee this season, dropping three of their four regular-season meetings. Still, the biggest difference from last year to this one is the Bucks will have a healthy Giannis Antetokounmpo for the postseason after injuries have limited him in the last two first-round exits. — Collier
Best-case scenario:
It hinges largely on whether the Cavaliers’ late-season swoon is real or a false alarm. If Cleveland plays up to its full potential, Indiana’s ceiling is a second-round exit. If the Cavaliers are more vulnerable than their excellent record and point differential suggest, then the Pacers have a chance to upset the East’s No. 1 seed and race back to the conference finals. Who would have imagined that Boston-Indiana could be a realistic conference finals matchup two years in a row? — Kram
Net points X factor:
The smallest guy on the Pacers team, T.J. McConnell, gives them the most net points on half-court layups — plus-1.1 per 48 minutes. Bennedict Mathurin and Aaron Nesmith contribute layups in transition at plus-1.4 each. — Oliver
Milwaukee’s road to the postseason:
Year 2 for the Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard era in Milwaukee has been as inconsistent as the first season. The Bucks recovered from a disastrous 2-8 start to win the NBA Cup in December, then changed their team by sending Khris Middleton to the Wizards for Kyle Kuzma at the trade deadline. Injuries have depleted the Bucks roster down the stretch, putting Lillard’s playoff status in jeopardy while leaving Antetokounmpo, who is still playing at an MVP level, to carry the team. — Collier
Will Lillard be able to get on the floor, and will it be enough?
If the Bucks are going to have any chance at a deep playoff run, they are going to need a healthy Lillard. He was ruled out indefinitely with a blood clot issue in his right calf on March 25, but the blood thinners have helped, leading to optimism about a potential return this season. Together, Lillard and Antetokounmpo were the highest-scoring duo in the NBA this season, and their chemistry has improved in their second year as teammates. — Collier
What to watch in Round 1:
As the injuries have piled up for Milwaukee, the team has slid in the standings and will enter its first-round matchup as a lower seed. This sets the Bucks up for a first-round rematch with the Pacers, who beat them in six games in the first round last season. Antetokounmpo’s dominance has helped the Bucks enter the playoffs playing some of their best basketball of the season, winning eight consecutive games to close the season even without Lillard. However, the Pacers have been rolling for months, behind Tyrese Halliburton’s return to All-Star form, putting up the fourth-best record in the NBA (behind Oklahoma City, Cleveland and Boston) since Jan. 1. — Collier
Best-case scenario:
In theory, Antetokounmpo is so sensational he can propel a team to the Finals by himself. But in reality, the rest of the Bucks are so limited — especially with Lillard’s health uncertain — and the East’s top teams so dominant that it seems exceedingly unlikely Milwaukee can make a run to June. The Bucks’ best-case scenario in this postseason might involve a long-term concern more than a short-term focus on the 2025 title: remaining competitive enough that Antetokounmpo doesn’t get dispirited and start angling for a trade this summer. — Kram
Net points X factor:
Antetokounmpo adds plus-2.7 net points per 48 minutes on his half-court layups alone, easily the best in the league. — Oliver
Milwaukee’s road to the postseason:
The Pistons put together one of the most remarkable turnarounds in NBA history, going from 14-68 last season — the worst record ever the year before a playoff berth — to the No. 6 seed in the East. Under new coach J.B. Bickerstaff, Detroit surpassed that win total by New Year’s Day. — Kevin Pelton
How will the Pistons’ young stars fare in the postseason?
The veterans Detroit added last summer (Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Tobias Harris) bring plenty of playoff experience, but this will be the postseason debut for All-Star Cade Cunningham and fellow starters Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson, all recent lottery picks.
The way Cunningham in particular performs could help shape the Pistons’ decision on how aggressively to approach this offseason and beyond. If Cunningham remains the All-NBA contributor he has been during the regular season, Detroit could soon make a run like the Indiana Pacers had in the 2024 playoffs. — Pelton
What to watch in Round 1:
Can Cunningham steal the show the way he frequently did during his regular-season matchups against the Knicks? The guard, who should be an All-NBA lock this season, saved some of his best showings of the year for the Knicks, averaging 30.8 points and 8.3 assists over four contests with New York, while shooting 56% overall and 52% from three in those games. Thibodeau’s group had little answer for Cunningham, especially late in games — a big part of why Detroit won three of those four games. It will be interesting to see whether the Knicks use 6-7 standout defender OG Anunoby at times to try slowing down Cunningham, a bigger ball handler. — Herring
Best-case scenario:
This season has already been a complete success for the Pistons, no matter what happens in the playoffs. But why not win some more games while they’re at it? After all, Detroit hasn’t won a single playoff game since 2008. They should stop that drought this month, and they have the potential to pull a first-round upset and reach the conference semifinals. It’s difficult to imagine a team with such little experience doing any real damage against the Knicks, but the Pistons will scrap for every point until their magical season comes to an end. — Kram
Net points X factor:
Detroit is second in fast-break points and has four players adding at least plus-1 net point per 48 minutes in transition: Cunningham, Thompson, Beasley and Ronald Holland II. — Oliver
Orlando’s road to the postseason:
What was once a promising campaign for the Magic turned as the injury bug hit hard in Orlando. Two months into the season, the Magic were in third place in the East, trailing only the Cavs and Celtics Then, they lost their three best players to extended periods — Paolo Banchero (for 34 games), Franz Wagner (20) and Jalen Suggs (out for season after playing in just 31 games). They’ve secured the No. 7 seed, and there should be an abundance of hope for the 2025-26 campaign. But this season never fully got back on track after injuries derailed things early on. — Herring
Can the Magic rely on their elite defense to compete in a potential first-round series?
The Magic won two of their three games against the Celtics and limited a depleted Boston side to a season-low 76 points on April 9. If the Magic slip in Tuesday’s play-in game against Atlanta but make it out of Friday’s game as an No. 8 seed, it’d set up a rematch from last spring’s clash with Cleveland. The No. 1 seed Cavs took off this season, but that seven-game series in 2024 should give Orlando confidence it can hang, even with this being a far better version of Cleveland. — Herring
What to watch for in the play-in:
Will the NBA’s worst 3-point shooting club remain ice-cold from deep when it matters most? Because of the team’s suffocating defense, Orlando still finished with a stellar 12-2 mark in games where it managed to knock down 15 triples or more. The flipside is ghastly: The Magic have gone 5-29 this season when hitting fewer than 10 3s. One of those five victories came against the Hawks, who they’ll be facing in Tuesday’s play-in game. — Herring
Best case scenario:
Even if the Magic advance out of the play-in round, they will almost certainly lose against the Cavaliers or Celtics.
