What are the best playoff matchups for the Sixers? We rank the potential first-round and play-in opponents.

The Sixers have been explicit — they want the sixth seed in the playoffs and to avoid the NBA Play-In Tournament.

With three games to play, the Sixers held seventh place in the Eastern Conference entering Tuesday’s games, yet they owned the tiebreaker over the sixth-place Toronto Raptors, their main competitor. But margins are tight, and one game could be the difference between a number of potential first-round opponents.

So, whom should the Sixers be hoping to draw? There’s a reason the Sixers should want the sixth seed — beyond avoiding the extra game(s) of the play-in tournament. It also would produce the most favorable first-round matchup. Here’s how we’d rank those four potential opponents, from most to least favorable for the Sixers:

The Knicks currently are the most likely team to earn the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Sixers would face them if they finished sixth. The Sixers went 2-2 in the regular season against the Knicks, winning the first two matchups before losing a close one, 112-109, on Jan. 24. Their most lopsided loss to New York (138-89) came on Feb. 11, with Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Quentin Grimes sidelined. The Sixers and Knicks played a memorable series in 2024, which the Sixers lost, 4-2, in the first round.

One of the Sixers’ biggest weaknesses this season (aside from health) has been their rebounding. Even with their healthy lineup, the Sixers have gotten killed on the boards, particularly on the offensive end. New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson are two of the NBA’s best rebounders. Robinson dominated the matchup on Jan. 24, holding Embiid to zero points when he was inserted into the game in the third quarter and helping the Knicks to a 19-6 advantage on the offensive glass for the game.

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“With the high volume of threes, I don’t think we’ve been great at running down long, loose ball-type rebounds, and that definitely needs an improvement,” coach Nick Nurse said before a game in Washington on April 1. “We’ve got the speed and athleticism to run those down.”

With Moussa Diabaté dominating the Sixers on the offensive glass on March 28 in Charlotte, N.C., Nurse inserted Andre Drummond in the fourth quarter to box out and keep the Hornets off the boards. His plan worked — the Hornets didn’t grab a single offensive rebound with Drummond on the floor, and the Sixers won, 118-114.

For what it’s worth, 42.7% of the Knicks’ field-goal attempts are three-pointers, 12th in the NBA, but they convert 37.4% of their attempts, good for fourth in the league.

The Cavs, currently seeded fourth, are probably the Sixers’ most unlikely matchup of the four teams. But unlike some of the other potential opponents, the Cavs have gotten a good look at the Sixers’ healthy lineup. Cleveland still swept the season series, 4-0, including one closer-than-expected Sixers loss without Embiid, George, Tyrese Maxey, or VJ Edgecombe, and two losses with the fully healthy lineup.

Evan Mobley is a force on the glass, which presents another big challenge for the Sixers. The two-big man lineup of Mobley and Jarrett Allen helped the Cavs dominate the Sixers, 133-107, on Jan. 14. Donovan Mitchell also helped the Cavaliers to rack up 41 assists, which is tied for the most the Sixers have given up in a single game this season.

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The Sixers have experimented with two-big man lineups of their own with Embiid and Adem Bona or Drummond, but found more success with their smaller lineup in a 117-115 loss to Cleveland on Jan. 16.

The Cavs were especially adept at defending Maxey — but the Sixers also got a few good defensive games in against Mitchell.

“They do a good job on all my ball screens. They put a lot of attention on me,” Maxey said on Jan. 16. “A lot of times, even when I come off a ball screen with Joel and Jarrett Allen’s guarding him, I’m just stringing them out, he stays on me, and I’m throwing it back to Joel. And then, I missed some good looks tonight.”

If the Sixers lose their first play-in matchup and drop to the eighth seed, their first-round opponent would be the top-seeded Pistons, against whom they’ve struggled this season. The Pistons dominated the Sixers, 116-93, on April 4.

“It was a reality check for us that we’ve got to play more physical, play harder,” George said afterward. “They took it to us. They challenged us on both ends. They outplayed us. More physical, more aggressive, faster to 50/50 balls, they crashed the boards. It was everything, you name it, they did it.”

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Cade Cunningham, who suffered a collapsed lung on March 19 that sidelined him for the rest of the regular season, is expected to make his return to the lineup in time for Game 1 of the postseason. But the Sixers had plenty of trouble with the Pistons and their stalwart defense even without Cunningham in the lineup — albeit also without Embiid.

The Sixers lost all four matchups against the Pistons this season, but still haven’t faced Detroit with a full-strength lineup. Embiid hasn’t played a game against Detroit this year, and George played in only the most recent game.

The second-seeded Celtics shoot even more three-pointers than the Knicks, averaging 41.8 attempts per game, good for fourth in the NBA. Of the Sixers’ potential playoff matchups (outside of a potential play-in matchup with Charlotte), the Celtics shoot by far the most three-pointers, which could create another problem on the defensive glass — and that’s only if the Celtics actually miss.

Even when they do miss, the Celtics are versatile enough to find other ways to win. In the final matchup between the two teams on March 1, Boston made just 16 of 49 three-pointers, but center Neemias Queta scored 27 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards, to bury the Sixers.

Since George’s return to the lineup, the Sixers’ three-point shooting has steadily ticked up, in no small part thanks to George’s 9.1 attempts per game since he came back, but they still are one of the weaker three-point shooting teams in the playoffs. Matching Boston’s scoring will be a challenge if they can’t continue their stronger three-point shooting since George and Embiid returned.

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Their biggest addition is Jayson Tatum, who returned from a torn Achilles on March 6 and is rounding himself back into All-NBA form. The Sixers split the season series against Boston, but two matchups were played without Embiid, George, and Tatum, and the latter two missed all four.

The Celtics are extremely deep and versatile defensively and are very well-coached. The 2025-26 season was expected to be a throwaway year for Boston with Tatum sidelined, and instead the Celtics have stayed at the top of the Eastern Conference.

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If the Sixers stay in the seventh seed and enter the play-in tournament, they could face Charlotte, Orlando, or Miami, who were seeded eighth, ninth, and 10th, respectively, entering Tuesday’s games. Here’s a look at those teams, in order from most to least favorable.