With regular seasons coming to a close, playoffs around the corner, tough decisions being made about MVP, and others looking towards draft night, professional sports are heating up and coming to an exciting time.
NBA: Playoffs, Play-in and more
With the NBA regular season coming to a close Sunday, April 12, the playoff and play-in matchups are set, with exciting matchups down the board.
The NBA’s Play-in tournament begins Tuesday, April 14, with the ninth-seed Charlotte Hornets taking on the 10th-seed Miami Heat for the tournament’s first matchup. The second game of Tuesday’s matchups will see the eighth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers take on the seventh-seeded Phoenix Suns. The Suns and Trailblazers battle to face the second-seed San Antonio Spurs.
On Wednesday, April 15, the tenth-seeded Golden State Warriors will face the ninth-seeded LA Clippers, and the seventh-seeded Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers will face the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic. The winner of the Sixers-Magic matchup will play the Boston Celtics.
The winners of the ninth- and tenth-seed matchups will face the losers of the seventh- and eighth-seed matchups. The winners of those games will then face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference and the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference.
In the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Houston Rockets. The Lakers will have a tough task as star players Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves are ruled out indefinitely. The Denver Nuggets will face the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers will take on the Toronto Raptors, while the New York Knicks will face the Atlanta Hawks.
NHL: Playoff teams are set
With the end of the NHL season approaching on April 16, all of the playoff teams have been set.
In the Pacific division, the Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks and LA Kings have all made the playoffs.
In the Central Division, the playoff teams include the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild and the Utah Mammoth, all of whom clinched a spot in the playoffs.
In the Atlantic division, the playoff teams include the Buffalo Sabres, Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators.
Finally, the Metropolitan division has the fewest playoff teams, including the Carolina Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers.
This 2026 NHL playoffs sees the end of playoff droughts, including the Buffalo Sabers, who had not made the playoffs in 14 years, and the Anaheim Ducks, who have not made the playoffs since the 2017-2018 season.
NFL: Draft Night and preparations
The NFL draft will take place on Thursday, April 23, and will finish on Saturday, April 25.
This year’s NFL draft class is unique in the fact that there is not much depth in the quarterback position compared to the 2024 draft class, with Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels, all of whom have shone in the NFL. With that being said, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza is a lock to go first overall to the Las Vegas Raiders.
This draft class is likely to see a high volume of wide receivers going in the first round, including Ohio State WR Carnell Tate, USC’s Makai Lemon and Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr.
