The National Basketball Association will begin its play-in tournament Tuesday night (April 11) as eight teams look to secure their ticket to the first round of the league’s traditional playoffs bracket.
The play-in tournament, first introduced by the league during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, pits eight teams seeded seven through 10 after regular-season play from the Eastern and Western Conferences.
TNT on Tuesday will air the games between the seventh and eighth seeds in the Eastern Conference (Miami Heat-Atlanta Hawks) and the Western Conference (Los Angeles Lakers-Minnesota Timberwolves). The winner of each game automatically advances to the playoffs.
One Wednesday, ESPN will televise the games between the ninth and 10th seeds in the East (Toronto Raptors-Chicago Bulls) and the West (New Orleans Pelicans-Oklahoma City Thunder). The loser of each game will automatically be eliminated from the playoffs.
On Friday, TNT will air the game between the loser of Tuesday’s Miami-Atlanta contest and the winner of Wednesday’s Toronto-Chicago game. ESPN will air the game between Tuesday’s Lakers-Minnesota loser and Wednesday’s New Orleans-Oklahoma City winner. The winners of each game will advance to the playoffs.
The NBA is hoping to increase interest in its postseason with the play-in tournament. The league averaged 2.4 million viewers for last year’s four-game play-in round, according to published reports.
