Last Updated on April 8, 2026 12:54 pm by Mike Passador | Published: April 8, 2026

We are down to the final four days of the regular season (Saturday doesn’t count), which means every team either has two or three games left on the slate. How high or low teams can move in the standings is the major determining factor for how hard the best players will be pushed in the coming days, so let’s reset the standings after Tuesday.

In the West, the Thunder moved to three games up on the Spurs with three games to go. San Antonio has the tiebreaker but Victor Wembanyama is injured and that math is tough. OKC and the Spurs could both be locked in by Thursday morning.

The Lakers punted on Tuesday’s game against those Thunder; they’re tied with Houston and one game back of Denver. The four-five distinction won’t mean too much but you want home court if you can get it, which means Houston will likely be playing hard (more on them in a second).

Minnesota is locked into the No. 6 spot. Phoenix is basically locked in at No. 7, up two games on the Clippers. Those Clippers are one game ahead of the Blazers for the No. 8 spot and two kicks at the Play-In can, while the Warriors are three games back of Portland and basically locked at No. 10.

In the East, Detroit is officially the top dog. Boston is three games up on New York at No. 2, though those two teams do play each other on Thursday, so if the Knicks want to go for it it’s in their hands. Of course, the Knicks might be trying to win anyway as they sit just one game up on Cleveland. We don’t think either team would purposely lose games to fall to No. 4 to draw a potential second-round matchup with the Pistons instead of the Celtics, but it has been discussed online.

It gets crazy after that. The Hawks lost and now sit just one game up on the Raptors for the No. 5 spot, and Toronto swept Atlanta in their season series so any tie would go to the dinos. Atlanta has consecutive games against Cleveland coming up, which should be competitive. The Raptors are now one game up on Philadelphia in the No. 6 spot, and while Philly owns the tiebreaker, they also have a date with the Rockets on Thursday. If they lose that one, it would drastically decrease their chances of earning a proper playoff spot.

The Sixers are tied with the Magic and a half game up on the Hornets in spots Nos. 7-9. This pack will feature a ton of movement over the last few days as everyone is going to try and at least stay out of the nine spot.

The Heat’s loss to Toronto last night gets them pretty close to locked in at No. 10. We’ll see how hard they go in the rematch on Thursday. Miami also plays Atlanta in the season finale, so whether they’re playing hard or not in that one could be significant for the rest of the teams in the East.

Top Pickups

This is the “general must-add” section regardless of the slate. If these players are being overlooked and remain chilling on the waiver wire, consider adding them to your squad.

Jeremiah Fears (%)

Fears erupted for 40 points on 17-of-29 shooting (5-of-5 FT) in Tuesday’s win over the tanking Jazz, taking full advantage of the Pelicans sitting their entire starting lineup. He also added five rebounds, six assists, three steals and a 3-pointer in a whopping 38 minutes. The Pelicans aren’t tanking but we might see the big dogs all get another game or two off, which means more immense opportunity for Fears. It hasn’t unfolded exactly as predicted, with Fears quickly rising to the starting lineup but then getting demoted even after the team was eliminated, but he is in for the big finish that you’d expect from a rookie PG on a bad team.

John Konchar (%)

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