On Wednesday, the New Orleans Pelicans (36-46) host the San Antonio Spurs (34-48) in the play-in tournament as the No. 9 and No. 10 seeds, respectively.
The winner of the contest will face the Clippers in Los Angeles on Friday to decide which team will secure the eighth seed in the Western Conference. The Clippers (42-30) lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday for the seventh seed.
The eighth seed will play the Phoenix Suns in the first round.
San Antonio took the season series versus New Orleans 3-1 this year, including a 107-103 victory on March 26. The Spurs finished the season by going 8-5 over their last 13 games to claim the 10th and final seed in the play-in tournament.
Meanwhile, New Orleans claiming the ninth seed didn’t seem all that likely at the beginning of the season. The group started off with a 3-16 record, but turned things around under first-year head coach Willie Green and went 33-30 the rest of the way.