The NBA Play-in series will take place immediately after the Regular Season ends, creating an additional "mini tournament" to compete for the final tickets to the Playoffs round.

Applied starting from the 2020-21 season, the Play-in series has helped the total number of teams competing in the postseason (after the Regular Season) from 16 to 20 teams, including 10 teams from each East and West.

According to NBA regulations, the top 6 teams in the two regions' rankings will have direct entry to the Playoffs round. Meanwhile, the 4 teams ranked 7-8-9-10 will compete in a series of Play-in matches to compete for the remaining 2 tickets in each region. Teams from 11th to 15th will not participate in the postseason and head to the NBA Draft Lottery.

How will the NBA Play-in series play out?

NBA Play-in Tournament will have a total of 6 matches revolving around 8 teams, competing separately in each East - West region and divided into 3 series of matches.

- Series 1 (taking place on Wednesday, April 17, 2024): The 7th ranked team will meet the 8th ranked team. Whoever wins will get a ticket to the Playoffs as the 7th seed in the region. The losing team will lose one life and still have a chance to compete in series 3.

- Series 2 (take place on Thursday, April 18, 2024): The 9th ranked team will meet the 10th ranked team. Whoever wins will play one more match to compete for tickets to the Playoffs. The losing team will be eliminated.

- Series 3 (take place on Saturday, April 20, 2024): The team that loses series 1 will meet the winner of series 2. Whoever wins will get a ticket to the Playoffs as the region's 8th seed. . The losing team will be eliminated.

With this competition format, the 7th and 8th ranked teams in each region will have "two lives ", which means that if they lose the first match, they still have a chance to enter the Playoffs if they win the remaining match.

The 9th and 10th ranked teams in each region will have to win 2 consecutive matches to get a ticket to the Playoffs . In all 3 series, the team with the higher ranking will be the team that plays at home.

This season, the race for Play-ins and Playoffs is taking place extremely intensely in both the East and the West.

Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors are currently on the edge of the Western Play-in group with 10th place on the rankings, under great pressure from the 11th-ranked team, the Houston Rockets. 

Above, five teams including Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans are competing intensely for the best positions.