yahoo - 4/15/2026 1:35:37 AM - GMT (+2 )
The NBA Play-In Tournament begins Tuesday, April 14, which means we're only a few days away from the playoffs. While many fans might expect a predictable postseason, with the usual suspects like the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets, and Oklahoma City Thunder competing for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
But the NBA Playoffs are no strangers to surprises. Just last year, we saw the Indiana Pacers reach the finals as a 5-seed, nearly taking down the heavily favored Thunder for the title. No one expected that. We've seen mutliple play-in teams reach their conference championships as well. Even the 2023 Miami Heat reached the finals despite entering the postseason as the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed.
That is to say that the NBA playoffs aren't as predictable as they may seem. That's why several experts have different opinions on what will happen. Here's a quick breakdown of numerous predictions from around the internet:
Kram writes, "Oklahoma City and San Antonio could spark a decade-long rivalry this spring, after the Spurs beat the reigning champs in four out of five meetings this season. Oklahoma City has crucial playoff experience and the best clutch scorer in the NBA on its side. But San Antonio presents real matchup problems for the champs because of its athleticism, guard play and game-changing force at center."
He continues, "It's possible that Wembanyama can't handle many more minutes because of his aggressive style of play. He looked noticeably fatigued when he reached 40 minutes in San Antonio's thrilling overtime loss in Denver this month. But Wembanyama doesn't need to play 40 minutes at altitude every game in the playoffs, and he successfully exceeded 35 minutes 10 times this season. In those games, he averaged 30.7 points, 14.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 4.0 blocks while making 44% of his 7.3 3-point attempts and 86% of his 9.6 free throw attempts. That's not evidence of a consistent problem playing big minutes; if anything, it's the opposite, and Wembanyama's stats have been even better when he has increased his workload."
He predicts the Spurs to win in six games, then take care of the Boston Celtics in six as well.
CBS Sports: 4 of 6 experts predict Celtics to emerge from the EastWhile the Western Conference is littered with different picks from CBS Sports' panel of experts, the East doesn't have as much variety, with two-thirds of their panel picking Boston to represent the conference in the Finals.
Funny enough though, only one of them has the Celtics winning it all. Jack Maloney is the the only person to predict a victory for the Eastern Conference, picking Boston to defeat the Thunder.
Maloney writes, "The Thunder would surely be favored in a Finals matchup against the Celtics, and could very well win. But Boston has defied the odds at every turn over the past seven months, and will cap a storybook season with an upset over the reigning champs."
Avery Johnson: Thunder will defeat CelticsFormer NBA head coach Avery Johnson says that the Thunder remind him "of what [they] built in San Antonio."
He also believes that whoever comes out of the Western Conference between the Spurs and Thunder should win the championship. He specifically predicts the Thunder to win in six games over Boston.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NBA Playoffs predictions, picks for NBA Finals, 2026 championship
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