Sixers playoff picture: Updated standings, seeding scenarios, and potential play-in matchups

The 76ers’ regular season officially ends on Sunday against the Milwaukee Bucks, but the race for playoff seeding is still heating up.

Here’s what you need to know about where the Sixers currently stand, what games they have left, and who they could face in the playoffs …

Following Monday’s 115-102 loss against the San Antonio Spurs, the Sixers currently sit at seventh in the Eastern Conference standings entering their final three games.

The Sixers will get an automatic berth into the playoffs if they secure a top-six seed. If not, they’ll be back in the NBA’s Play-In Tournament, a spot they emerged from two years ago after beating the Miami Heat.

If the Sixers finish seventh or eighth, they will play in the first Play-In game, and host the game if they finish seventh, like they did in 2024. The team that wins that game earns the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference; the team that loses that game plays the winner of the ninth and 10th seed Play-In game. The winner of that game will earn the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.

With five teams within two games of each other, a tie between two or more teams is a real possibility. Here are the NBA’s tiebreaker rules if two teams are tied …

And here are the tiebreakers if three or more teams are tied …

The Sixers own the tiebreaker over Charlotte and Toronto, and lost tiebreakers to Miami and Atlanta.

If the Sixers finish as the No. 6 seed, their first-round matchup would likely be against a familiar foe, the New York Knicks, who beat the Sixers in first round of the 2024 playoffs. The Sixers went 2-2 in the regular season against the Knicks this year, winning the first two matchups before losing a close one, 112-109, on Jan. 24. Their most lopsided loss came on Feb. 11, with Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Quentin Grimes all sidelined in a 138-89 defeat.

They could also face the Cavaliers if Cleveland is able to catch the Knicks, who are one game ahead for third place in the Eastern Conference. The two-big lineup of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen helped the Cavs dominate the Sixers on Jan. 14, 133-107, and the Cavs swept the season series 4-0, including one closer-than-expected loss without Embiid, George, Tyrese Maxey, or VJ Edgecombe.

If the Sixers fall into the play-in games, their fate becomes a little more muddied. Depending on their seeding, they could face one of four teams in the play-in round: the Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic, or Heat. If they’re part of the first play-in, between the seven and eight seeds, and win, they would play the Boston Celtics. If they are forced to play in a second play-in game, because they lost as a seven/eight seed or won as a nine/10 seed, their first-round opponent (should they advance) would be the Detroit Pistons.

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 against Detroit this year, and George only played the most recent game.

The season series with the Celtics is tied at 2-2, but Embiid, George, and Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who recently returned from a torn Achilles, did not play in any of the four games.

The Sixers have three games remaining in the regular season, including one on the road against a Western Conference playoff team. None are against potential first-round or play-in opponents — or against any of the teams they’re battling against for seeding.