The 2026 NBA playoffs is the ongoing postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2025–26 season. The playoffs began on April 18 and will end with the conclusion of the 2026 NBA Finals. For the second straight season, the defending champions Oklahoma City Thunder with two-time defending MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished the regular season as the Western top seed after clinching a league-best record of 64–18, being only two games better overall than the San Antonio Spurs with rising star Victor Wembanyama, who reached their first postseason tournament since 2019. Both teams were widely considered as title favorites. After Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon during the decisive game seven of the previous year's NBA Finals against the Thunder that sidelined him for the entirety of the season, the reigning Eastern Conference Champion Indiana Pacers faced an unsurprisingly challenging season, in which they were eliminated from postseason, having the second-worst record in the East with 19–63.