After an 82-game season and the play-in round, the NBA playoffs have finally arrived.
The 2026 NBA playoffs begin during the weekend of April 18-19 with the start of first-round series in the Eastern and Western conferences.
The defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder are the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for a second straight year after they breezed through the regular season with little resistance.
In the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons are the top seed for the first time since 2007 and just two seasons removed from having the worst record in the NBA for a second straight year.
Those teams will tip-off their playoff runs on Sunday, April 19.
On Saturday, April 18, four Game 1s are on the schedule with the first three only available on the Prime Video streaming service before LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers play host to Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets to conclude the day’s action in a marquee Western Conference first-round series.
Here’s the NBA playoff games today, TV schedule and bracket:
What NBA games are on today?
The 4 vs. 5 and 3 vs. 6 matchups in both the Eastern and Western conferences begin their best-of-seven first-round series on Saturday, April 18:
What channel are the NBA playoffs on?
The Raptors-Cavaliers, Timberwolves-Nuggets and Hawks-Knicks games are all streaming exclusively on Prime Video, the same service where all the play-in games streamed on this week.
The Rockets-Lakers game will air on ABC.
Stream NBA playoffs on Prime Video
NBA playoff bracket
Here’s the 2026 NBA playoff bracket after two teams – the No. 9 and 10 seeds – in each conference were eliminated in the play-in round earlier this week:
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: NBA playoff TV schedule today, times, where to watch games, stream
Reporting by Christopher Kuhagen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
