As the NBA prepares to resume play with seeding games beginning July 31, one measure for how the 8th and 9th place teams in the standings will be identified is by winning percentage, according to ESPN.
Though we don’t know yet who the San Antonio Spurs will be playing in their eight seeding games, we can look at the scenarios that have to take place for the Spurs to claim the 8th seed or 9th seed in the Western Conference.
How to get 8th
Getting the 8th seed will be a daunting task for the Spurs, since they’re currently 12th in the standings with a winning percentage of 42.86%, while the Memphis Grizzlies sit in 8th with a 49.23% winning percentage. Here are the scenarios for the Spurs to get 8th out West.
| Spurs go | Grizzlies go | Blazers go | Pelicans go | Kings go | Suns go |
| 8-0 | 3-5 or worse | 7-1 or worse | 7-1 or worse | 7-1 or worse | Not possible to get 8th |
| 7-1 | 2-6 or worse | 6-2 or worse | 6-2 or worse | 6-2 or worse | Not possible to get 8th |
| 6-2 | 1-7 or worse | 5-3 or worse | 5-3 or worse | 5-3 worse | 7-1 or worse |
| 5-3 | 0-8 | 4-4 or worse | 4-4 or worse | 4-4 or worse | 6-2 or worse |
In summary, the only way the Spurs can capture the 8th seed is if they go at minimum 5-3 to at best 8-0, while the other teams have records described above in the table. Keep in mind, even if the Spurs were to finish with 8th, if the 9th place team was within four games of them in the standings, a play-in tournament would be held for the 8th seed.
In the play-in tournament, the 8th seed has to win one game to advance. Meanwhile, the 9th seed has to win two games to advance.
How to get 9th
| Spurs go | Grizzlies go | Blazers go | Pelicans go | Kings go | Suns go |
| 8-0 | 4-4 or better | 7-1 or worse | 7-1 or worse | 7-1 or worse | Not possible to get 9th |
| 7-1 | 3-5 or better | 6-2 or worse | 6-2 or worse | 6-2 or worse | Not possible to get 9th |
| 6-2 | 2-6 or better | 5-3 or worse | 5-3 or worse | 5-3 worse | 7-1 or worse |
| 5-3 | 1-7 or better | 4-4 or worse | 4-4 or worse | 4-4 or worse | 6-2 or worse |
| 4-4 | Any record | 3-5 or worse | 3-5 or worse | 3-5 or worse | 5-3 or worse |
| 3-5 | Any record | 2-6 or worse | 2-6 or worse | 2-6 or worse | 4-4 or worse |
| 2-6 | Any record | 1-7 or worse | 1-7 or worse | 1-7 or worse | 3-5 or worse |
| 1-7 | Any record | 0-8 | 0-8 | 0-8 | 2-6 or worse |
As long as the Spurs win one of their seeding games, they technically have a chance at getting 9th, but that’s really slim because they need all the other teams to basically go 0-8 and Phoenix to go 2-6 or worse.
There’s a lot more opportunity for the Spurs to get the 9th seed which could force the 8th seed into a play-in tournament as long as teams are within four games of each other in the standings. For the Spurs, their goal will be to win as many games as they can. The more games they win, the greater their odds increase in having more flexibility to see if their opponents can reach some of those targets.
