Around the trade deadline every single NBA season, teams across the league always scramble to make last minute deals not only to try and ensure future success, but try to make a run at the playoffs right away.
This season, many of the moves made at the trade deadline were predictable given all the reports and speculation about players like Caris LeVert, Domantas Sabonis, CJ McCollum and James Harden being on the move, but many of these moves will still have a great impact on how the season plays out.
In the Eastern Conference just 7.5 games separate the 1-seeded Miami Heat and the 8-seeded Brooklyn Nets, which should make things very interesting in terms of what matchups we will see in the first-round of the playoffs in this conference.
In the Western Conference, the Suns and Warriors remain separated from the rest of the pack, but the bottom-end of the conference is filled with playoff hopefuls. The Clippers, Lakers, Pelicans, Trail Blazers and Kings all remain very close in the play-in tournament picture, but it is likely that Portland will begin to freefall down the standings after their “garage sale” at the deadline.
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Much like every other season, the trade deadline is going to influence what happens the rest of the season, including what happens with the play-in tournaments in both conferences.
Last season, the NBA implemented a new “play-in tournament” to include the 9-seeds and 10-seeds from the Eastern and Western Conferences, giving them a chance to earn the 7-seed or 8-seed in the playoffs.
Not only has this created more competition near the end of the NBA season, as teams see a chance to slip into the playoffs, but it also creates a sense of worry for some teams comfortably in the playoff picture, but only a few games in front of teams currently slotted in the 7-seed or 8-seed spot, which will have to play in the play-in tournament.