The NBA Playoffs are nearly here. There are just a week's worth of regular-season games left to be played, which means playoff scenarios are being played out. One team looking to make it back into the playoffs for a third straight season is the Los Angeles Lakers.

Memphis and Minnesota would face each other in the play-in round if the regular season ended now. The Warriors are ahead of both teams on tiebreakers. The Los Angeles Lakers are currently aligned with the Warriors in what could be a first-round matchup for the ages between LeBron James and Luka Doncic versus Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler.

Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst canvass the league ahead of a potentially wild ride through the West playoffs.

The rest of the season (and Play-In) could shake things up, but as of now, some intriguing first-round series loom.

Four days remain in the 2024-25 NBA regular season, and there is still plenty of for grabs in terms of playoff seeding -- especially in the league's wild West. The Thunder, Rockets and Lakers have clinched playoff berths in the West,

The Detroit Pistons could finish in either the fifth or the sixth seed in the NBA playoff race as they host the New York Knicks tonight.

SportsLine's model simulated Detroit Pistons vs. Milwaukee Bucks 10,000 times and revealed its NBA picks for Friday's contest

LOS ANGELES - After a shaky start at the Intuit Dome, losing the first four games of the season at their new home, the Los Angeles Clippers figured it out. Overall, they finished the regular season with a 30-11 record at the Intuit Dome and as of Thursday,

Luka Doncic scored 45 points in his first game in Dallas since being traded to the Los Angeles, helping the Lakers wrap up a playoff spot with a 112-97 victory over the Mavericks on Wednesday night.

Dončić led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 112-97 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Wednesday's Western Conference showdown. It was his first game back in Dallas since the Mavericks traded him to the Lakers in a shocking deal, and he reminded them what they are missing in resounding fashion.

The Lakers keep pace in the playoff race with a strong finish against the Mavericks, who honor Luka Doncic with a video tribute before the game.

Luka Doncic entered the court with the Los Angeles Lakers for his first game back in Dallas to cheers in an arena where draped over every seat was a T-shirt with the Slovenian phrase for thank you for

Emotions flowed freely for the 26-year-old superstar, and with his Lakers teammates by his side, he got what he needed: closure.

Most of the time in the modern NBA, when a star returns to his previous arena, he faces a hostile crowd because he chose to leave. That wasn't the case for Luka Dončić. By all accounts, the five-time All-NBA point guard planned to sign a super max extension with the Dallas Mavericks this offseason.

After the Dončić trade went down, it became clear that Cuban didn't hold the same power he had wielded for two decades in Dallas.

The eyes of the basketball world will be on Dallas on Wednesday night when Luka Doncic visits for the first time since the Mavericks and Lakers pulled off a blockbuster trade on Feb. 2 to send the superstar guard to Los Angeles.

Before the game, Mavs coach Jason Kidd said some had compared the trading of Dončić to “Babe Ruth, which is kind of cool.”