Rockets (52-30) finish season with win, draw Lakers as playoff opponent
In a highly publicized match, Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets (52-30) will face LeBron James and the Lakers (53-29) in the first round of the 2026 NBA playoffs.
The first game kicks off in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. Central, and it will be televised and streamed to a national audience via ABC. The availability of Luka Doncic (hamstring strain) and Austin Reaves (oblique strain), who led the Lakers in scoring this season, remains highly uncertain.
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Dates for the remainder of the best-of-seven series will be announced following the results of the SoFi NBA Play-In tournament, which takes place April 14-17.
Games 3 and 4, as well as a possible Game 6, will be played at the Toyota Center in Houston – where the Rockets went 29-12 at home this season.
Tickets for all potential first-round home games in Houston can be purchased on Monday, April 13, with additional information available on the team’s official website, Rockets.com.
Historically, this will be the 10th time that the Rockets and Lakers have met in the NBA playoffs, and the first since the 2020 Western Conference semi-finals. This series took place in Orlando as part of the NBA’s “bubble” experience.
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Since the NBA adopted its current 16-team playoff format in 1983-84, the fourth- and fifth-ranked teams have had an even record against each other (42-42). The Rockets won their second title in 1994-95 as the sixth seed and remain the lowest seeded champion in NBA history.
The 2025-26 Rockets finished their regular season with a Sunday 132-101 (box score) victory over Memphis, with Clint Capela leading the way with a season-high 23 points (81.8% FG), 13 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Since the Rockets were locked into the West’s No. 5 seed before the game, Durant, Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr. all sat out to rest. Each is believed to be healthy and all should be fully available for the opener against the Lakers next weekend.
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More: As playoffs approach, Amen Thompson scores career-high 41 points for Rockets
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Rockets (52-30) end season with win, draw Lakers as playoff opponents
