With the trade deadline and the all-star break over, the NBA world is focused on the stretch run of the regular season. That will determine the ever-important playoff seeding, which is a mess in the Western Conference as of Feb. 21 but clearer in the East, where the Boston Celtics have a six-game lead on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
How many regular season games are left for teams to sort out their playoff positioning or potentially make a run at this year's play-in tournament?
When do the 2024 NBA playoffs start?
Teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets have until the end of the regular season on April 14 to fight for the No. 1 seed in the West. Then the play-in tournament begins on April 16 as the teams that finished seventh through 10th in each conference play to decide the final two playoff spots.
Then things kick off in earnest when the playoffs start on April 20.
The conference semifinals are slated to begin on May 6 or 7 (potentially May 4 or 5, depending on how long the first round goes). May 21 and 22 (or May 19 and 20) are the dates set aside for the start of the conference finals, and the 2024 NBA Finals will begin on June 6.