NBA Play-In Tournament Starts Tonight

The NBA play-in tournament gets underway tonight with two games, both in the Western Conference. The Los Angeles Lakers will play the Pelicans in New Orleans beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Golden State Warriors will face the Sacramento Kings in the California state capital right after Game 1. Tip-off is set for 10:00 p.m. ET for the Warriors and Kings.

The Lakers-Pelicans NBA play-in game is the No. 7-No. 8 game. That means the winner automatically becomes the No. 7 seed in the NBA playoffs. Tonight’s winner will face Denver, the No. 2 seed, in the first round of the NBA playoffs. 

Tonight’s NBA play-in loser will face the winner of the second game, which is being played by the No. 9 and No. 10 teams. The loser tonight is automatically eliminated from the postseason. The winner will face the loser of the No. 7-No. 8 game to conclude the NBA play-in tournament. That game will be played on Friday.

How the NBA Play-In Tournament Came to Be

When the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to the 2019-20 NBA season, the idea for an NBA play-in was brought up. Historically, the teams with the best eight records in each conference made the playoffs. Because of the weirdness of that COVID season, the league determined that if the ninth place team in either conference was within four games of the eighth place team, there was going to be some sort of NBA play-in to determine the No. 8 seed.

After the 2019-20 season concluded, the league voted on an NBA play-in tournament that would include places No. 7 through No. 10. The top six teams in each conference would automatically qualify for the postseason. Teams that finished in seventh through tenth place would head to the NBA play-in tournament.

The NBA play-in follows the Page-McIntyre system of a four-team playoff. The winner of the No. 7-No. 8 game earns a playoff berth. The winner of the No. 9-No. 10 game must win a second game to qualify.

REMINDER: ENTER OUR 2024 NBA PLAYOFFS BRACKET CONTEST

Find Your NBA Play-In Cappers

There are nearly two dozen picks for the NBA play-in games tonight in the Sports Hub members area. You can bet there will be many more to come throughout the day. The only way to access these picks is with a Sports Hub membership. Don’t worry, it’s free and totally worth it. I’ll show you why.

Yesterday, our Sports Hub experts waded through a light sports schedule and still found ways to make money. Mike Hawk was our leader yesterday, going 3-0 and earning $300. Mike was one of three Sports Hub exclusive handicappers in yesterday’s Top 5. Exclusive means you will not find these cappers anywhere else on the web, and so many of these guys are outstanding.

Take our guy Sal Lombardi, for example. Sal loves the NHL and MLB. Right now, Sal is our top MLB capper over the last seven days. He’s 25-18 and has added $595 to his MLB bankroll. 

Looking for an NBA play-in capper? How about Sas Insider? Over the last seven days, the Insider is 36-23 on NBA picks and has $1053 in profits. These guys know how to win and do it consistently. There are more too. You can search our database and find them.

Let’s review what our guys did yesterday.

• The Hawk: Mike Hawk put in three picks yesterday. He went 3-0 on two NHL picks and one soccer prediction. He’s 7-4 on NHL picks over the last five days.
• New guy: Pavlos Laguretos may be new, but winning is nothing new for this capper. Pavlos went 2-0 on his soccer picks yesterday. Both were at plus-money and he took home $299. Look for more great soccer picks from Pavlos.
• Big NHL win: William Taylor went 2-0 yesterday and one of those wins was a huge +136 upset by the Washington Capitals. William, a Sports Hub expert, earned $236 as a result.
• Soccer picks: Another Sports Hub expert, Gino De Luca, went 2-1, hitting both of his soccer picks. His profits yesterday were $195. 

NBA Play-In, WNBA Draft

For a random Tuesday in April, there is actually a lot going on in the sports world. The NBA play-in tournament starts tonight and the WNBA held its draft on Monday night. The NHL is in its final week and one player made history last night. 

Let’s check out trending sports.

• NBA play-in: The NBA play-in tournament starts tonight. The seventh through tenth place teams in the Western Conference will play tonight. The same teams in the Eastern Conference play tomorrow night.
• Clark goes No. 1: It was no surprise that Iowa’s Caitlin Clark went No. 1 in the WNBA’s draft last night. The Indiana Fever selected Clark with the first pick.

• McDavid hits 100: Edmonton’s Connor McDavid became just the fourth player in NHL history to record 100 assists in a single season. He’s in pretty good company. The other three are all Hall of Famers – Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Bobby Orr.
• Nine days away: The NFL draft is just nine days away. It starts on April 25 and will take place in downtown Detroit. Don’t forget to check out your NFL draft odds in advance.

NBA Play-In Tournament Tops Schedule

It’s the NBA postseason…kind of. It’s not the NBA playoffs, but it is the NBA play-in tournament. Tonight, the West gets it on to determine which team becomes the No. 7 seed and which two teams get to play on Friday to be No. 8. There’s also a full slate of MLB games today.

Let’s look at the schedule.

1. Full MLB schedule: All 30 MLB teams are in action today and it all starts with Texas at Detroit in a 1:10 p.m. game. Tonight’s main event will be Atlanta playing at Houston at 8:10 p.m. in a game to be televised by TBS. The Astros are in a tough spot. They are 6-12 and currently in last place in the AL West.
2. It’s almost over: The NHL season continues to wind down. There are eight games on the schedule tonight. There are four teams that can still make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. Detroit plays its final game of the season at Montreal tonight. Washington and Philadelphia play each tonight. Pittsburgh will play its season finale at the New York Islanders tomorrow night.
3. NBA play-in: The Lakers, who just beat the Pelicans on Sunday, will play New Orleans again tonight in the first of two NBA play-in games. Golden State visits Sacramento in the other.

4. UEFA Champions League: Barcelona plays PSG and Borussia Dortmund takes on Atletico Madrid in UEFA Champions League soccer today. The US Open Cup is also in action today as is the English League One, English League Two, and English National League.
5. Tennis: First round action on the ATP Tour continues today in the BMX Open in Munich, the Barcelona Open, and the Tiriac Open in Bucharest. First round action for the women also continues today at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, the Open Capfinances Rouen Metropole in France, and the Oeiras Ladies Open in Portugal.

More NBA Play-In Tomorrow

Remember, there are numerous picks for tonight’s NBA play-in games in the Sports Hub system already. We’ll have more tomorrow when the Eastern Conference holds their play-in games. Keep in mind our top NBA capper right now is Sas Insider. You can search for others when you’re in the database. 

If basketball isn’t your thing, you can also search for our top NHL and/or MLB handicappers too. Sports Hub has it all and we’ll continue bringing your winning sports picks all year long!