While the Los Angeles Lakers are on the brink of securing their first top-six seed since the 2019-20 campaign, the Phoenix Suns have been teetering on the line of elimination while looking to catch the Sacramento Kings down the stretch for a chance to at least make the play-in.

After that, the playoff picture is a complete mess. With less than a week left in the regular season, five Western Conference teams have exactly 32 losses. What follows is an attempt to make the playoff picture a little less fuzzy: A breakdown of the various probabilities (per PlayoffStatus.

Behind 44 points from Anthony Edwards, the T-wolves blew out the Memphis Grizzlies 141-125 on Thursday to move into a tie for sixth place in the West. There are now six teams — Timberwolves, Grizzlies, Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors — within two games of each other in the standings.

Worth noting that all those other teams won the NBA title. 2. Boston Celtics (56-19, LW 2). Boston is hitting its stride at just the right time — the Celtics just recorded the first 6-0 road trip in franchise history (it’s kind of shocking that the Bill Russell Celtics didn’t pull that off).

Coaches Club: Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson (63) joined Flip Saunders (64, 2005-06 DET), Steve Kerr (67, 2014-15 GSW), Phil Jackson (67, 1999-00 LAL) and Bill Sharman (69, 1971-72 LAL) as the only coaches with 63+ wins in their 1st season with a new team

Which NBA coaching jobs are available? Which situations are the most appealing? Tim Bontemps breaks down the vacancies.

The Denver Nuggets will have to participate without head coach Michael Malone. They made the shocking decision Tuesday to fire Malone, according to ESPN's Shams Charania, in a move that no one saw coming. Malone, 53, is the winningest coach in Nuggets history. He has led Denver since 2015 and compiled a 471-327 record.