With their win over the New Orleans Pelicans last night and the Los Angeles Clippers losing, the Portland Trail Blazers have now jumped ahead of the Clippers for the eighth seed in the Western Conference as the 2026 postseason looms.
With just four games remaining in their season, Portland (40-38) now holds a slim 0.5 game lead over the Clippers (39-38) who have five contests to go.
Blazers’ Remaining Games:
- Mon. April 6 @ Denver Nuggets
- Wed. April 8 @ San Antonio Spurs
- Fri. April 10 vs. Los Angeles Clippers
- Sun. April 12 vs. Sacramento Kangz
Clippers’ Remaining Games:
- Sun. April 5 @ Sacramento Kangz
- Tue. April 7 vs. Dallas Mavericks
- Wed. April 8 vs. OKC Thunder
- Fri. April 10 @ YOUR Portland Trail Blazers
- Sun. April 12 vs. Golden State Warriors
This matters a lot as under the NBA’s play-in rules, the 7th- and 8th-seeded teams can lose their first play-in game
and still make the playoffs by winning their second game (or simply win their first), while the 9th- and 10th-seeded teams need to win both of their games to make it (and cannot afford a loss).
The conference seeding implications of the Blazers and Clippers ending the season with identical records is also kind of fun to think through:
- The Blazers are 1-2 against the Clippers this season with one matchup remaining (Fri. April 10).
- If the Blazers WIN that game, both teams will be tied in the series matchup.
- The first seeding tiebreaker (series matchup) would be a push.
- The second tiebreaker is if the team wins their division (won’t apply).
- Third tiebreaker only applies if both teams are in the same division (won’t apply).
- Fourth tiebreaker is Conference record, and the Blazers (27-21 against West teams) will take that over the Clipper (22-25 against West teams).
All of this means IF the Blazers beat the Clippers on Fri. April 10 and IF both teams end the season tied, the Blazers get the 8th spot.
If the Blazers LOSE that game and both teams end the season tied, the Clippers get the 8th spot, and Portland falls to 9th.
All of this assumes the Golden State Warriors (36-41 and 3.5 games behind Portland) don’t win out and the Blazers don’t lose out, because – while exceedingly unlikely – it’s still mathematically possible for Portland to finish lower than 9th
