NBA Playoff Race Update: The Milwaukee Bucks Punch Their Ticket

Western Conference - Bubble Teams

(7) Los Angeles Clippers (37-29, 93.7%)
(8) San Antonio Spurs (36-29, 89.9%)
(9) Sacramento Kings (32-31, 15.0%)
(10) Los Angeles Lakers (30-34, 0.8%)

There were 10 teams in this tier last time around, but we've had three of them move up (previous slide) and another three move down (next slide).

What we're left with is not as closely contested of a postseason race as one would've expected at this point of the season. The Clippers and Spurs each have playoff probabilities north of 89% while both the Kings and Lakers are cratering at exactly the wrong time.

Three games now separate the Kings from the eighth-place Spurs while the Lakers sit 5.5 games back. It's hard to completely count out LeBron James and the Lakers after 13 consecutive trips to the postseason for the King, but 0.8% is not exactly what you'd call a reasonable chance of making it at this point. They really should be in our "dead and dying" tier, but out of respect for LeBron, we'll give them one more week.