Cavs finish fourth in East as NBA Playoff bracket locks into place

The regular season is over. The Cleveland Cavaliers have finished with a 52-30, which is good enough for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. They will take on the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the playoffs.

Final 2025-26 NBA Standings

Here are the final standings for each conference, with the play-in ultimately set to decide who will face the top two seeds in each. The second seed in each conference will play the winner of the 7-8 game, while the one seed will play the winner of the next game, between the loser

of the 7-8 game and the winner of the 9-10 game. Eliminated teams are noted in italics.

Eastern Conference

1. Detroit Pistons
2. Boston Celtics
3. New York Knicks
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
5. Toronto Raptors
6. Atlanta Hawks
7. Philadelphia 76ers (play-in)
8. Orlando Magic (play-in)
9. Charlotte Hornets (play-in)
10. Miami Heat (play-in)
11. Milwaukee Bucks
12. Chicago Bulls
13. Brooklyn Nets
14. Indiana Pacers
15. Washington Wizards

Western Conference

1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Denver Nuggets
4. Los Angeles Lakers
5. Houston Rockets
6. Minnesota Timberwolves
7. Phoenix Suns (play-in)
8. Portland Trail Blazers (play-in)
9. Los Angeles Clippers (play-in)
10. Golden State Warriors (play-in)
11. New Orleans Pelicans
12. Dallas Mavericks
13. Memphis Grizzlies
14. Sacramento Kings
15. Utah Jazz

Even though the Cavs have finished fourth in the standings, FanDuel Sportsbook currently gives the Cavs the fifth-best chance to win the NBA Finals (+1300) and the second-best chance to come out of the Eastern Conference. The only team in their conference that they believe has a better chance of winning the title is the Boston Celtics (+550). The Cavs’ title odds are ahead of both the New York Knicks (+1900) and Detroit Pistons (+1900).

Official 2026 NBA Lottery Odds

And with the 2025-26 NBA season behind us, here is the final lottery order (with their odds to get the number 1 pick) for the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery on May 10.

Even though these flattened odds don’t always help the teams that need them most, the NBA is trying to make sure that fans of bad, small-market teams have no hope for their future for some reason.

*Teams in italics are placeholders as they and others will enter a Play-In Tournament to decide whether they are a playoff or lottery team.

1. Washington — top-8 protected (14%)
2. Indiana — pick goes to Clippers if it falls 5-9 (14%)
3. Brooklyn — (14%)
4. Sacramento — (11.5%)
5. Utah — top-8 protected (11.5)
6. Dallas — (8.3%)
7. Memphis — (8.3%)
8. Atlanta — via Pelicans (6%)
9. Chicago — (4.5%)
10. Milwaukee (3%)
11. Golden State (2%)
12. Oklahoma City — via Clippers (1.5%)
13. Miami (1%)
14. Charlotte (0.5%)