NBA Playoff Picture: Who plays who if the season ended today?

There are only seven days left in the 2022-23 NBA regular season, and with the playoffs nearly underway, we figured now would be a good time to take a look at what the matchups would be if the season ended today.

For the sake of simplicity, we will assume that the two teams in each conference that emerge victorious from the NBA Play-In Tournament are the teams currently slated at the seventh and eighth spots (to learn about how the play-in tournament works, check out this post here).

Now, without further ado, here are the first-round matchups for the Western Conference:

Western Conference First Round Matchups (if the season ended today)

#1 Denver Nuggets (52-26) vs. #8 New Orleans Pelicans (40-38)

#2 Memphis Grizzlies (49-29) vs. #7 Los Angeles Lakers (40-38)

#3 Sacramento Kings (47-31) vs. #6 Golden State Warriors (41-38)

#4 Phoenix Suns (43-35) vs. #5 Los Angeles Clippers (41-38)

First off, it looks like our New Orleans Pelicans (the team most readers of this website have the most vested interest in) could end up having their hands full in the first round, matching up against the team with the fourth-best odds to win the title in the Denver Nuggets.

Some other interesting notes: it’s really got to suck being the Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings. You work hard all season to get the second and third-best records in your conference, only to draw LeBron James and Anthony Davis (if you’re the Grizzlies) and the defending freaking champions (if you’re the Kings) in the first round. It really is a cold world out there.

Now, here are the matchups for the Eastern Conference side of the bracket (again, if the season ended today):

Eastern Conference First Round Matchups (if the season ended today)

#1 Milwaukee Bucks (56-22) vs. Atlanta Hawks (39-39)

#2 Boston Celtics (54-24) vs. #7 Miami Heat (41-37)

#3 Philadelphia 76ers (51-27) vs. #6 Brooklyn Nets (43-35)

#4 Cleveland Cavaliers (49-30) vs. #5 New York Knicks (46-33)

While the potential first round matchups in the Eastern Conference are not nearly as enticing as they are out West (the real fun in the East starts in the second round), the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks series (aka the Donovan Mitchell bowl) is sure to be an all out war. Plus, we get a rematch of the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat conference finals bout from last year.