The final week of the 2022-23 NBA season begins today, with a nearly every team still playing for something. Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, and the Los Angeles Clippers are knee-deep in the action, currently the fifth seed in the Western Conference. Paul George is expected to be out for the remainder of the regular season, so they'll desperately need to find some wins.

With the NBA's play-in tournament starting on April 11th and the NBA playoffs starting on April 15th, the Clippers will look to avoid the former and sneak into the latter. If you're a Clippers fan, the good news is that the team is currently the West's fifth seed for the moment with a 41-38 record. The bad news, however, is that they're in a four-way tie in the loss column, as the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, and New Orleans Pelicans all have 38 losses.

The West is a mess, so here are three things you must know regarding Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, and the Clippers entering the final week of the NBA's regular season.

——Tiebreaker Situation——

The Los Angeles Clippers (41-38) enter Monday, April 3rd, as the fifth seed in the West. They only tiebreaker they will hold for certain at the end of the year is that against the Lakers. The Clippers are 3-0 against the Lakers this season, with one final matchup on Wednesday. The Lakers can enter that matchup with the exact same record as the Clippers, essentially making this a battle to avoid the play-in tournament.

The Clippers lost tiebreakers to the Thunder (3-1), the Timberwolves (2-1), and the Pelicans (3-0). They tied their season series with the Warriors (2-2) and can also tie their series with the Suns (2-1) on the final day of the regular season.

In case of an identical record at the end of the season as well as a tied season record, the next tiebreaker is the conference record… unless the two teams are in the same division. If it's between two opponents in the same division, their division record will be the tiebreaker, and if that's also identical, then the conference record will be the next tiebreaker.

Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, and the Clippers are 7-7 against the Pacific Division while the Warriors are 6-9. The Warriors have one division game remaining, so the most wins they can have is seven. The Clippers have two division games remaining, so one more division win for LA OR a division loss for Golden State would give them the tiebreaker over the Warriors.

Should the Warriors win their final division game and the Clippers lose both of theirs — it's unlikely the two will then finish in a tie, but if they do — the next tiebreaker would be conference record, which Golden State currently leads by three games.

Of the Clippers, Suns, Warriors, Timberwolves, and Pelicans, LA currently has the worst conference record of the group. They also have one more loss than the Lakers, but they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over them.

In short, in order to remain a top six seed and avoid the play-in tournament, the Clippers will need to win out AND hope for at least one Pelicans loss over their final four games. A loss by the Warriors, especially against the division rival Kings, would help significantly as well.

Here's a look at the full Western Conference tiebreaker situation entering the final week of the season:

If you're unsure what any of this means or have questions about different tiebreaking scenarios, feel free to tweet me @TomerAzarly and I'll try to respond to them all.

——Remaining Schedules——

The LA Clippers (41-38) have three games over these next seven days: Wednesday vs. the Los Angeles Lakers, Saturday vs. the Portland Trail Blazers, and Sunday at the Phoenix Suns. Since one of those is a back-to-back, Kawhi Leonard's status will have to be monitored, but Russell Westbrook would be expected to play both.

The Golden State Warriors (41-38) have three games remaining: Tuesday vs. the OKC Thunder, Friday at the Sacramento Kings, and Sunday at the Blazers.

The Los Angeles Lakers (40-38) have four games remaining: Tuesday at the Utah Jazz, Wednesday at the Clippers, Friday vs. the Suns, and Sunday vs. the Jazz.

The New Orleans Pelicans (40-38) have four games remaining: Tuesday against the Kings, Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies, Friday vs. the New York Knicks, and Sunday at the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Minnesota Timberwolves (39-40) have three games remaining: Tuesday at the Brooklyn Nets, Saturday at the San Antonio Spurs, and Sunday vs. the Pelicans.

Will every team have incentive to play their best players to try and win every game? There are multiple scenarios in which teams like the Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Kings can simply secure their spot if another team's win/loss goes their way.

Aside from defeating the Lakers on Wednesday, the Clippers could certainly use some help from the Kings and Grizzlies when taking on the Pelicans.

——Paul George's Injury——

Wednesday, April 5th will mark two weeks since the MRI on Paul George's injured right knee revealed a sprain. George suffered the gruesome looking injury against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, March 21st, and was set to be re-evaluated, ‘in two-to-three weeks,' the team announced. He's already expected to miss the remainder of the regular season, and his re-evaluation period is expected to be sometime between April 5th and April 12th.

As reported by ClutchPoints shortly after the injury, Paul George's major ligaments reportedly suffered no serious damage, with most of the concern involving the surround tissue. His return-to-play hinges on his overall mobility with the knee — ie. cutting, running, jumping, etc — and if the Clippers don't see the necessary mobility, he won't be able to return.

If and when George is cleared to return, there is also expected to be a ‘ramp-up' period for the Clippers star, which likely won't be short.

A return for the first round of the NBA playoffs seems incredibly unlikely albeit not impossible. The next week of Paul George's recovery and his re-evaluation will tell a lot about the Clippers hopes for this season. If George can't return soon, there will be a lot on the shoulders of Kawhi Leonard to carry this team alongside Russell Westbrook until he possibly can return.