The 2026 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2025–26 season. The playoffs began on April 18 and ended on June 13 with the New York Knicks defeating the San Antonio Spurs in five games at the 2026 NBA Finals. The Knicks won their first title since 1973, and became the first team to win an NBA Cup championship and an NBA championship in the same season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were the defending champions, but lost in the Western Conference finals to the Spurs in seven games. The Thunder's loss ensured a unique champion for the eighth consecutive year, the longest stretch in NBA history.
Overview Updates to postseason appearances The Oklahoma City Thunder made the playoffs for the third consecutive season as the Western Conference's number one seed. They also won the Maurice Podoloff Trophy for clinching the best record in the NBA for the second straight year, becoming the first team to do so. The Boston Celtics made the playoffs for the twelfth consecutive season, the longest such streak in the NBA. The Denver Nuggets made the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season. The Minnesota Timberwolves made the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. The New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, and Cleveland Cavaliers made the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. The Orlando Magic made the playoffs for the third consecutive season. The Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets made the playoffs for the second consecutive season. The Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns returned to the playoffs after missing the postseason the previous year. The Atlanta Hawks made the playoffs for the first time since 2023. The Toronto Raptors made the playoffs for the first time since 2022. The Portland Trail Blazers made the playoffs for the first time since 2021. The San Antonio Spurs made the playoffs for the first time since 2019. The Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors missed the playoffs after making the postseason the previous year. The Indiana Pacers missed the playoffs for the first time since 2023. They were the defending Eastern Conference champions from 2025. The Los Angeles Clippers missed the playoffs for the first time since 2022. The Miami Heat missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019. The Milwaukee Bucks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season. The Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season. The Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. The Washington Wizards missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. The Charlotte Hornets missed the playoffs for the tenth consecutive season, currently the longest active playoff drought in the NBA.
Play-in tournament The Miami Heat took part in the play-in tournament for the fourth consecutive season. The Golden State Warriors took part in the play-in tournament for the third consecutive season. The Orlando Magic took part in the play-in tournament for the second consecutive season. The Philadelphia 76ers took part in the play-in tournament for the first time since 2024. The Los Angeles Clippers and Charlotte Hornets took part in the play-in tournament for the first time since 2022. The Portland Trail Blazers took part in the play-in tournament for the first time since 2020. The Phoenix Suns took part in the play-in tournament for the first time in franchise history.
Notable occurrences First round With a Game 2 win against the Orlando Magic, the Detroit Pistons ended their 11-game postseason losing streak at home, the longest in NBA history, which began in 2008. With a Game 2 win against the Toronto Raptors, the Cleveland Cavaliers tied the record for the most consecutive playoff wins against a single opponent, with 12. The record is also held by the Cavaliers against both the Atlanta Hawks and the Detroit Pistons, as well as the Los Angeles Lakers against the Seattle SuperSonics. The streak ended in Game 3. In Game 3, LeBron James lobbed an alley-oop to his son Bronny James for a reverse layup, which was the first father–son assist in NBA playoff history. The Rockets were the second team since the play-by-play era (29 years) to blow a 6-plus point lead in the final 30 seconds of regulation in the playoffs, joining the 2024 New York Knicks. In their Game 4 win against Portland, San Antonio Spurs became the first team to win a playoff game by 15 or more points after trailing by 15 or more points. With the Thunder sweeping the Suns in the first round, this was the 50th straight playoffs with a series sweep. The last playoffs without a sweep was in 1976. Cade Cunningham and Paolo Banchero became the second set of players on opposing teams to score 45-plus points in the same game in the playoffs, joining Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray in 2020. Prior to their Game 5 loss to the Rockets, the Lakers held an all-time franchise record of 40–1 when leading a playoff series 3–1. Their only previous loss in that situation came back in 2006 against the Phoenix Suns. The New York Knicks set an NBA playoff record with a 47-point halftime lead over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6. The previous record of 41 points was held by the 2017 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 2025 Indiana Pacers. With their win against the Hawks, they became the first NBA Cup champion to reach the Conference Semifinals in the playoffs. With the Celtics–76ers series going the full seven games, this was the 27th straight playoffs to have a series go to a Game 7. 1999 was the last time no series went to a Game 7. The Minnesota Timberwolves became the first team to advance to the conference semifinals as the 6th seed in consecutive seasons. As such, this also marks the fourth straight playoffs where a 6th seed advances to the second round. In Game 6 against Atlanta, Karl-Anthony Towns made 1 field goal while achieving a triple-double, tying the NBA record and setting the postseason record. The Pistons set a record for the largest playoff comeback by a team facing elimination on the road, trailing 24 points against the Magic in Game 6. The Magic only scored 19 points in the second half of that game, which is the fewest points scored in a half in playoff history. The first round featured three game sevens, the most since 2014, with five. The Philadelphia 76ers became the 14th team in NBA history to overcome a 3–1 series deficit. They were also the first team since the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals to do so while winning Game 7 on the road. The seventh-seeded 76ers defeated the second-seeded Celtics in seven games, marking the eighth instance in NBA history of a 7th-seeded team defeating a 2nd-seeded team in the first round, following previous instances in 1987, 1989, 1991, 1998, 2010, 2023, and 2025. Additionally, this was only the fourth time and the third time in four seasons that such an upset occurred in a best-of-seven series, as well as the second time it occurred in a full seven game series. The Detroit Pistons became the 15th team in NBA history to overcome a 3–1 series deficit. They were also the first team to do so against the same team (Orlando Magic) twice, having done so in 2003, and the first 1-seeded team since the 2016 Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals to overcome a 3–1 deficit and win Game 7 at home. With this feat, this was the second time two teams overcame a 3–1 series deficit in the same postseason, after 2016. This was also the first time this happened in a single round. In the Cavaliers–Raptors series, the home team won all seven games in the series; this was the first time this happened since the Cavaliers–Magic first-round series in 2024, and the 17th time this has been recorded in a 2–2–1–1–1 format.https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/7game-series-outcomes.fcgi?format=22111&status=3-3&pattern=H1H1A0A0H1A0
Conference semifinals In Game 1, Victor Wembanyama set the playoff record for blocks in a game with 12. The previous record of 10 was held by Mark Eaton, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Andrew Bynum. The New York Knicks became the first team to win three consecutive playoff games by 25 points with a 137–98 win in Game 1 against the Philadelphia 76ers. In Game 1, the Pistons ended their 12-game postseason losing streak to the Cavaliers, which dated back to the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals. Game 2 of the Knicks–76ers series had 25 lead changes, the most in a playoff game since Game 7 of the Los Angeles Clippers–San Antonio Spurs in the first round in 2015 (31). In Game 4, the Knicks tied the NBA playoff record for most 3-pointers made in a playoff game with 25. The Knicks won their seventh consecutive playoff game for the first time in franchise history, surpassing a six-game streak in 1999. The Knicks outscored the 76ers by 89 points across a four game sweep, making it the third most lopsided non-first-round series in NBA history. Donovan Mitchell tied Sleepy Floyd for most points in a second half of a playoff game with 39 points in Game 4 against the Pistons. With a sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Thunder were the 11th team to start the NBA playoffs 8–0. This marked the fourth time LeBron James was swept in a postseason series. A moment of silence was held before Game 5 of the Spurs–Timberwolves series on May 12 in memory of Memphis Grizzlies player Brandon Clarke and former player Jason Collins. Clarke died of a drug overdose on May 11, and Collins died of glioblastoma on May 12. Similar tributes were also done before Game 5 of the Cavaliers–Pistons series on May 13. With the Cavaliers–Pistons going seven games, this marked the first time since 2016 that two teams who played a game 7 in the first round will play such game in the Semifinals against each other. The last two teams that accomplished this feat was the Heat–Raptors, in which the Raptors prevailed. The Pistons lost their first Game 7 at home, as they had been 5–0 previously. Prior, they accumulated their undefeated record across three different home venues (The Pontiac Silverdome, Palace of Auburn Hills, and Little Caesars Arena). The Cavaliers overcame a 2–0 series deficit for the fourth time in franchise history, after: 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, against the Detroit Pistons 2016 NBA Finals, against the Golden State Warriors (also a 3–1 comeback) 2018 Eastern Conference Finals, against the Boston Celtics
Conference finals This was the sixth straight season where all four teams competing in the conference finals were different seed numbers (1, 2, 3, 4). The Knicks became the first NBA Cup champion to advance to the conference finals. The Thunder became the first defending champion since the 2019 Golden State Warriors to advance to the conference finals. For the first time in NBA playoffs history, both NBA Cup finalists reached the conference finals in the same postseason. The Spurs–Thunder series was the first playoff match-up to feature 62 or more win teams since the 1998 NBA Finals. Game 1 of the Spurs and Thunder series went to double overtime, which was the first such game in the NBA playoffs since 2021. Additionally, a Western Conference Finals game had not gone to double overtime in 50 years, since Game 4 of the Suns and Warriors from 1976. For the first time in NBA playoff history, Game 1 of both Conference Finals series went to overtime. The Cavaliers blew a 22-point lead with 7:52 left in Game 1. This was the second largest blown fourth quarter lead in NBA playoff history (behind the Grizzlies' 24-point blown lead against the Clippers in 2012) and the biggest comeback win in New York Knicks' playoff history. The Thunder's 76 bench points against the Spurs in Game 3 was the fifth most in an NBA playoff game by a collective bench and the most in the Thunder's franchise history.