NBA Standings Shake-Up: Celtics, Nuggets, Thunder surge as LeBron, Curry battle to keep pace
12.01.2026 - 15:01:11
The NBA standings may say early January, but the intensity feels like late April. With Jayson Tatum’s Boston Celtics and Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets tightening their grip on the top spots, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Oklahoma City Thunder charging hard, every possession is starting to shape the playoff picture. Meanwhile, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, plus Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, are locked in a nightly grind just to stay in the Western Conference mix.
[Check live stats & scores here]
Last night’s action: contenders hold serve, pressure builds below
Across the last 24 hours, the script was familiar: the true heavyweights largely handled business, while the middle class of both conferences kept beating up on each other. The result is a standings board where the separation at the top is clear, but the race from the 5?seed to the Play-In bubble looks like a traffic jam.
In the East, Boston continues to set the tone. Tatum has been in MVP Race form for weeks, pouring in efficient, three-level scoring and controlling crunch-time. Even on nights when his shot is not automatic, the Celtics lean on their length, versatile defense and depth to grind out wins and maintain the No. 1 slot. Behind them, the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers are trading blows, each powered by a superstar playing at an MVP-caliber level and putting up eye-popping player stats on a nightly basis.
Giannis Antetokounmpo remains a walking double-double with elite rim pressure, while Damian Lillard’s late-game shot-making gives Milwaukee a different postseason ceiling. In Philly, Tyrese Maxey’s leap has ensured that whenever Joel Embiid is on the floor, the Sixers look like a legitimate threat to disrupt the top of the conference. Their combined output has turned routine regular-season games into playoff-style chess matches.
On the Western side, the Nuggets, Thunder, and Minnesota Timberwolves have turned the top of the conference into a three-way sprint. Jokic is casually stacking near-triple-double lines while orchestrating Denver’s offense from the elbows and above the break. Oklahoma City, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, keeps punching above its age, with SGA torching defenses from downtown and at the stripe. Minnesota’s defense, anchored by Rudy Gobert and backed by the shot-making of Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns, has looked downright suffocating in stretches.
While those three keep winning, the Lakers and Warriors find themselves living in scoreboard-watching mode. Every loss tightens the vise. The Lakers ride the two-man symphony of LeBron and Anthony Davis, but nagging injuries and inconsistent shooting have left them hovering around the middle tier. Golden State, meanwhile, continues to lean heavily on Curry’s gravity and clutch shot-making, but defensive lapses and uneven role-player production have them flirting more with the Play-In than with a top-four seed.
NBA Standings snapshot: who owns the top and who’s on the bubble?
Look at the NBA standings right now, and the hierarchy at the very top is clear. The Celtics are pacing the East, with the Bucks and 76ers breathing down their necks. In the West, Denver, Oklahoma City and Minnesota form an elite tier, with the Lakers, Clippers, Suns and Warriors battling to avoid the danger zone of the lower seeds and Play-In slots.
Here is a compact look at how the top of each conference stacks up and where some marquee teams like the Lakers and Warriors sit in the bigger playoff picture:
| Conference | Seed | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 1 | Boston Celtics | 30+ | ?10 |
| East | 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | Upper 20s | Low teens |
| East | 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | Upper 20s | Low teens |
| West | 1 | Denver Nuggets | Upper 20s | Low teens |
| West | 2 | Oklahoma City Thunder | Upper 20s | Low teens |
| West | 3 | Minnesota Timberwolves | Upper 20s | Low teens |
| West | 9–11 range | Los Angeles Lakers | Around .500 | Around .500 |
| West | Play-In range | Golden State Warriors | Below .500 | Above .500 |
Exact records will keep shifting night to night, but the tiers are unmistakable. Boston, Milwaukee, and Philly look like safe bets to host first-round series if they stay healthy. Denver, OKC, and Minnesota occupy the same protected air in the West. For teams like the Lakers, Clippers, and Warriors, every road back-to-back and every crunch-time possession is magnified because one bad week can drop them multiple spots in the standings.
Coaches are already talking like it is April. After a recent tight win, one Western Conference coach summed it up: his group cannot “spot anybody a quarter” anymore because the middle of the conference is simply too stacked. That tension bleeds into every rotation choice, every timeout, every last-minute substitution.
Top performers: MVP Race turns into a weekly arms race
At the individual level, the MVP Race has turned into a rotating showcase of monster box scores. On any given night over the last week, it feels like one of Embiid, Jokic, Giannis, Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Tatum has dropped a stat line that would be headline material in any other era.
Embiid is churning out nights in the 35-plus point, 10-rebound range with brutal efficiency. It is not unusual to see him hit that on fewer than 20 shots, living at the free-throw line and collapsing entire defenses. His player stats for the season hover at a towering scoring average that keeps him firmly planted in the MVP conversation.
Jokic, by contrast, is the conductor. His lines routinely flirt with triple-doubles: low-30s in points, double-digit boards, and 10-plus assists, with a shooting percentage that would make most guards jealous. Even when he takes fewer shots, the gravity he creates for Denver’s shooters from downtown turns every half-court possession into a puzzle the defense rarely solves.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has arguably been the biggest breakout name at the very top of the standings. He is putting up efficient high-20s to low-30s scoring nights with elite free-throw volume, plus disruptive defense at the point of attack. When OKC needs a bucket in crunchtime, the ball is in his hands, and his blend of change-of-pace drives and midrange footwork is shredding scouting reports.
Out West, Anthony Edwards keeps stacking statement games, mixing 30-point outbursts with highlight-reel dunks that tilt momentum in a heartbeat. Tatum in Boston has had multiple nights in which he filled the box score across the board, with scoring, rebounding, and playmaking all humming at once. Those games do not just help Boston keep its cushion atop the NBA standings; they also reinforce his case as a two-way superstar who can anchor an elite defense and still carry the offense.
On the flip side, a few high-profile names are struggling to fully hit their stride. Some veterans are posting modest shooting splits, particularly from three, and that is showing up in the standings for teams like the Warriors when Curry is forced to carry too much of the scoring load. For the Lakers, every night when the supporting cast does not knock down open looks makes life harder on LeBron and Davis, who are already playing heavy, high-leverage minutes.
Injuries, rotations and the thin margin for error
No discussion of this stretch of the season is complete without pointing to the injury report. Around the league, stars and key role players are cycling in and out of lineups. Coaches are juggling rest, minor knocks, and the urgent need to stack wins before the All-Star break.
When a primary creator or defensive anchor sits, the ripple effect on the playoff picture is immediate. A two-game skid in a packed conference can knock a team from a comfortable 5-seed into the Play-In cluster. That is especially brutal in the West, where the Lakers, Suns, Mavericks, Kings, Clippers, and Warriors are tightly packed in the loss column and head-to-head tiebreakers will loom large.
Rotations are tightening as a result. Marginal bench guys who were getting experimental run in November are seeing their minutes trimmed in favor of trusted veterans. You can feel that in fourth quarters: fewer wild lineups, more star-heavy groups grinding through half-court sets, more emphasis on matchup hunting and defensive switches.
Coaches keep repeating a similar refrain after games: the room for error is almost gone. When a team blows a double-digit lead late or misses a chance at a buzzer-beater, you can hear players talk about it like a two-game swing in the NBA standings, not just another January L.
What it all means for the playoff picture
Put it all together, and the outlines of the playoff picture are starting to form, even if the exact seeds are still wildly volatile. Boston, Milwaukee, and Philly in the East, plus Denver, OKC, and Minnesota in the West, are playing at a level that screams top-three seed barring injuries. Their blend of star power, top-tier player stats, and stable rotations has created a small tier of true regular-season juggernauts.
Below them, the fight for home court in the first round is vicious. Teams like the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, and Orlando Magic are jockeying in the East; in the West it is the Suns, Clippers, Mavericks, Kings, Pelicans, and Lakers in constant motion, flipping spots with every mini-win streak or rough patch.
The Play-In, once viewed as a consolation prize, now looks more like a looming trap. For the Warriors, just getting into that 7–10 window is no guarantee of survival in a single- or double-elimination setting, especially if a young, hungry squad like OKC or a battle-tested group like the Kings happens to be waiting. One off shooting night from downtown or one whistle in crunchtime could swing an entire season.
That is why you see veterans talk openly about “not playing with our food” against lottery teams. Dropping a random Tuesday game to a rebuilding team is not just an embarrassing box score; it is a standings slip that might cost a tiebreaker or home court when the brackets finalize.
Looking ahead: must-watch matchups and storylines
The next few days are packed with games that could further scramble the NBA standings. Any tilt featuring top-tier teams like the Celtics, Nuggets, Thunder, Bucks, and 76ers now carries extra weight, not just for win-loss columns but for MVP narratives and seeding leverage.
Whenever LeBron’s Lakers or Curry’s Warriors take the floor, there is an added layer of urgency. Those games feel like mini elimination tests in January: can they defend well enough, can the role players hit shots, can the stars still flip the switch late? Every close finish becomes a referendum on whether these dynastic cores can mount one more deep run.
Fans should keep one eye glued to live scores and another on the injury updates. If a star sits out the second night of a back-to-back, that might be the opening a rival needs to steal a road win and jump a spot or two. Likewise, a surprise breakout performance from a young guard or a bench big can tilt a game and spark a winning streak that reshapes the standings in the span of a week.
The only safe bet is that the current balance of power will not stay still for long. The NBA standings right now are a snapshot, not a verdict. With MVP-level performances happening almost nightly, defenses constantly adjusting, and coaches tightening rotations, the stretch run is starting to take shape. Stay tuned, keep refreshing those live scores, and circle the heavyweight clashes on your calendar; the playoff picture is already being written in real time.
