Playoffs Teams: 2025

[ Power Rankings 2025 | Toilet Bowl Teams 2025 | Midseason Tiers 2025 ]

We ended the regular season with an exciting matchup between #1 and #2, and there were tie-breaks to be had at the bottom of the playoffs, as four teams vied for positioning. At the end of the 2025 regular season, SQSQ emerged as the winner, with a victory over MELO. Let’s take a look at the eight teams into the 2025 playoffs.

#1 SQSQ (14-4)

ODE: 13/4/1

SQSQ started the regular season off with six straight wins and ended the season with six as well, securing their fourth regular season crown and third in the past six years. Unfortunately, all that regular season success hasn’t translated to the postseason, as SQSQ has never made a SlamNation Finals. To rectify that, SQSQ’s already all-in roster went even further all-in in February as GM Brian traded for James Harden, Rudy Gobert, and CJ McCollum to create a potential playoff juggernaut. The only remaining question heading into their best shot at a title is the health of Anthony Davis, and to a lesser extent Daniel Gafford. Still, this is the team to beat and we love seeing owners go all-in!

#2 MELO (12-5-1)

ODE: 5/13/11

Recovering from a bit of a midseason slump, MELO finished the regular season strong, with a 5-1-1 record and the H2H tie-breaker to take the second seed in the playoffs—and winning their first ever Russell Conference title. This will be MELO’s second playoff appearance—their first came in 2021 when Jack entered the league—and they are well positioned to challenge for a title. Likely R.O.Y. Stephon Castle (2025 RD1.7) has been fantastic lately and he’ll have to pick up the slack from a hurt Brandon Miller. Otherwise, MELO is all locked in and ready for a long playoff run!

#3 SCRM (12-5-1)

ODE: 9/1/15

Another team that ended the regular season on a hot streak, last year’s crowns winner SCRM has been 8-1-1 since mid-December and has now gone 43-10-3 over the past three years. Even with a slight pivot to more youth—trading away James Harden for Scoot Henderson—SCRM has managed to ride SlamNation’s best defense to a top-three seed. With a healthy Kawhi Leonard on-board, maybe this is Jordan’s shot to get to their first ever Finals after building another deep and talented roster. Note: With their 0.694 regular season this year, SCRM Jordan has overtaken SOUR Trieu as the winningest regular season owner in SlamNation history—by winning percentage. Congrats!

#4 SWMP (11-6-1)

ODE: 2/5/6

After missing the playoffs last year—after making five in a row—SWMP is back to their winning ways, finishing up 2025 with a 4-1-1 streak. While SWMP’s glory years of leading the league in wins might in the rear window, it looks like they could still be a dark horse contender for the title as they have the league’s most balanced combined ODE. It’ll be a tough road ahead with Jalen Johnson—and Deandre Ayton—out, but SWMP still has Nikola Jokic and to lead the way. They took the Toilet Bowl last year, can they add a long awaited title this time around?

#5 SPDE (10-6-2)

ODE: 5/6/10

After starting off the season 3-5-2 and looking like a bottom tier team, SPDE went on a seven game win streak, ending their season on a 7-1 run and are now back in the playoffs as a mid-sized threat. Note: SPDE finished with the second most regular seasons last year. Interestingly, a lot of the win streak was done with Victor Wembanyama out and Tyrese Maxey and Tyler Herro bouncing in and out of the lineup. Unfortunately for SPDE, those injury woes persist and even the reappearance of Chet Holmgren won’t fix the Wemby-sized hole in the middle. So that’s a sigh of relief from the rest of SlamNation, as the franchise with the best keeper core heading forward seems to have taken a pause this year on contention. Next year/decade though…

#6 KSKT (11-7)

ODE: 4/9/13

After an electric title run last season, KSKT has slipped just a little back to the pack. Their title defense will be an uphill one, even as Cade Cunningham has elevated himself to All Star level. Kristaps Porzingis is likely out for a few weeks while Tyrese Haliburton will miss the first round of the playoffs at least. That leaves KSKT a bit shorthanded, even with Zion Williamson available. KSKT did take out ILCN, SBUK, and SOUR during their four game win streak to end the season, proving that they still have some bite in their championship follow up season. Are their back to back chances legit?

#7 ILCN (10-7-1)

ODE: 12/7/3

As our top rated combined ODE team, ILCN has a strong defense and efficiency paired with a lackluster offense. However, that lack of offense is deceiving because Paolo Banchero and Luka Doncic have traded off being injured. Given full health, ILCN can score with anyone, giving them a very solid all around team. However, ILCN has stumbled a bit since midseason, registering only two wins in their last six, and looking a bit out of sorts. For the playoffs, they are going to need Mark Williams to step up, as Jaren Jackson Jr. and Dereck Lively II will likely start the week on the shelf. Will Luka magic be enough for ILCN to go further in the postseason this year?

#8 SOUR (10-7-1)

ODE: 1/9/14

The ever dangerous SOUR franchise has been good this year but not great by any measure. Still, SOUR are in the playoffs—fourth year in a row, after two years in the Toilet Bowl in 2020-21— and are always a tough out. The loss of Dejounte Murray for the season is a big blow to the backcourt but the rejuvenation of Jimmy Butler—now on the same real life and Slam team as Steph Curry—could result in playoff magic for SOUR. There’s a top ranked offense to contend with here for SOUR’s opponents and as Trieu has proven over and over: never count SOUR out!