1g17 The NBA announced on Aug. 15 its schedule for the group stage of the inaugural in-season tournament, which will see the winning team earn the NBA Cup and its players $500,000 each.
The tournament — whose final will be on Dec. 9 in Las Vegas — will see each NBA team play a four-game group stage in November, with the group winners advancing to the knockout rounds.
The tourney will be a proving ground for the league’s newest star, as Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs have more nationally televised games (three) than any other team during this month’s four-game group stage.
So what, exactly, is the NBA Cup? How will the tournament work? Why is it happening? What is the NBA hoping to get out of it?
The New Orleans Pelicans pulled off the most consequential result of the in-season tournament Friday night when they defeated Denver Nuggets 115-110.
Despite Nikola Jokic’s 26-point, 16-rebound, 18-assist triple-double, New Orleans put itself in the driver’s seat to reach the quarterfinals of the tourney in the first week of December. The Pelicans were led by 26 points by Zion Williamson.
In Friday’s other big result in West Group B action, the LA Clippers beat the Houston Rockets 106-100 thanks to James Harden’s four-point play with six seconds to go. Harden finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for his first win with the Clippers since joining earlier this month. The win also snapped the Clippers’ six-game losing streak.
If the Pelicans beat the Clippers on Nov. 24 in Los Angeles, the Pelicans will put themselves on the verge of winning West Group B. To do so, however, they’d need the Rockets to lose to either the Nuggets on Nov. 24 or the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 28.
Earlier Friday, Derrick White’s 3-pointer with 27.1 seconds to go lifted the Boston Celtics to a 108-105 victory over the Toronto Raptors, allowing them to improve to 2-0 in East Group C.
The win, Boston’s fifth straight, came with the Raptors playing their first in-season tourney group stage game and missing O.G. Anunoby for a third consecutive matchup. The Celtics, led by 23 points from Jaylen Brown, are in a commanding position to make the quarterfinals.
In other East Group C action, the Orlando Magic defeated the Chicago Bulls 103-97 for their first tournament victory.
The Sacramento Kings, meanwhile, improved to 2-0 in West Group C with a 129-120 victory over the San Antonio Spurs behind 43 points from De’Aaron Fox. Next Friday’s contest between the Kings and the Minnesota Timberwolves (2-0) will all but determine who will win the group.
In East Group B action, the Milwaukee Bucks also improved to 2-0 with a comfortable 130-99 win over the Charlotte Hornets, as Damian Lillard scored 27 points and led a Bucks offense that made 22 3-pointers.
Elsewhere in East Group B, the New York Knicks took down the Washington Wizards 120-99 behind 32 points, seven rebounds and seven assists from Jalen Brunson and 27 points from Immanuel Quickley off the bench.
The Cleveland Cavaliers picked up their first tournament win with a 108-100 East Group A victory over the Detroit Pistons despite missing Donovan Mitchell, who was out with a hamstring issue. Darius Garland led Cleveland with 28 points. The Philadelphia 76ers improved to 2-1 with a 126-116 triumph over the Atlanta Hawks. They will play their final group stage game Tuesday at home against the Cavs.
The Los Angeles Lakers improved to 3-0 in West Group A play with a 107-95 win over the Portland Trail Blazers, while the Phoenix Suns beat the Utah Jazz 131-128 thanks to Kevin Durant’s 38 points.
The Lakers can clinch a spot in the quarterfinals when they host Utah on Tuesday. If the Jazz beat the Lakers, they would guarantee themselves the top spot — if the Suns lose one of their final two games against Portland or the Memphis Grizzlies.
If Utah beats the Lakers and Phoenix wins both games, however, all three will be tied at 3-1 in the group standings. The winners will then be determined by point differential.
Bucks 130, Hornets 99Knicks 120, Wizards 9976ers 126, Hawks 116Cavaliers 108, Pistons 100Celtics 108, Raptors 105Kings 129, Spurs 110Magic 103, Bulls 97Pelicans 115, Nuggets 110Suns 131, Jazz 128Lakers 107, Trail Blazers 95Clippers 106, Rockets 100
NBA in-season tournament standings
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ESPN Analytics projects which teams will make it to the knockout phase of the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament.
EAST A
EAST B
EAST C
WEST A
WEST B
WEST C
Through games of Nov. 17
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has wanted to implement it for years, for a variety of reasons. Much like the play-in games, though, it took a long time for him to convince everyone involved to give it a shot.
Wednesday, Nov. 22Bucks at Celtics, 7:30 p.m.Warriors at Suns, 10 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 1Grizzlies at Mavericks, 7:30 p.m.Nuggets at Suns, 10 p.m.
All times Eastern
The first hope, obviously, is that it generates revenue. The NBA believes the in-season tournament can become a significant moneymaking franchise over time because of the ability to sell its television rights — as it did with the WNBA’s version of the event.
The other hope is to draw more eyeballs to the league. The stretch of time the tournament is set within — from the start of November through the first week of December — might be the most irrelevant part of the NBA schedule.
It’s after the initial rush of the season starting, and alongside the college football and NFL regular seasons. If this tournament can bring more attention to the sport during its least relevant time of the year, it will be seen as a victory.
Silver has long been fascinated with European soccer, and the basis for the NBA’s in-season tournament lies in the cup tournaments across Europe. In those leagues, there is a regular-season championship, determined by the team with the most points over the full year, and then a separate tournament (or, in some leagues, multiple tournaments) that runs concurrently with the league season.
Unlike European soccer tournaments, though, which all are played outside of the league schedule, the NBA Cup is built into the NBA’s regular-season schedule. The 30 teams were split up into six five-team groups.
The four group stage games will be played on seven November dates: four Fridays (Nov. 3, 10, 17 and 24) and three Tuesdays (Nov. 14, 21 and 28).
The quarterfinals will be played Dec. 4 and 5 at the higher-seeded team, and the semifinals and championship game will be Dec. 7 and 9 in Las Vegas.
Typically, the NBA sends out a full 82-game schedule in mid-August. This year, though, the league only sent 80 games, with a gap in the schedule from Dec. 3-10. Each team’s final two regular-season games will be determined by how the in-season tournament plays out.
The 22 teams that fail to qualify for the knockout rounds of the in-season tournament will have their final two games scheduled — one at home and one on the road — on Dec. 6 and 8 against other teams eliminated in the group stage.
The East teams that lose in the quarterfinals and the West teams that lose in the quarterfinals will play each other on Dec. 7. The teams that lose in the semifinals in Las Vegas will have played their full allotment of 82 games, while the teams that reach the championship game will actually wind up playing 83 games — with the championship game not counting toward the regular-season standings.
Before its launch, one of the biggest questions surrounding the in-season tournament was why any team would be incentivized to compete in it. By making it part of the regular-season schedule, and making every game count toward the regular season — very important from a playoff tiebreaker standpoint — the NBA created a situation in which it is in teams’ interest to win these games.
If this had been set up like the cup tournaments in European soccer, there would’ve been nothing stopping NBA teams from opting out literally or figuratively, sitting all of their top players and getting extra rest time. Under this system, though, they’ll have every incentive to play and win.
To create the groups — which were separated by conferences — the NBA put all 15 teams in each conference into five pots, separated by their finish in last season’s standings. So: Pot 1 included the teams that finished 1-3 in regular-season record, teams 4-6 went into Pot 2, teams 7-9 in Pot 3, teams 10-12 in Pot 4 and teams 13-15 in Pot 5.
As a result, the following groups were drawn:
East Group A: Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons
East Group B: Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets
East Group C: Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic
West Group A: Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, LA Lakers, Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers
West Group B: Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets
West Group C: Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs
The players on the winning team will each get $500,000, while the runners-up will get $200,000. The losing players of the semifinals will each get $100,000, and the losing players of the quarterfinals will each get $50,000.
There will be a Most Valuable Player award for the in-season tournament, as well as an all-tournament team.
Not beyond the games being regular-season games that count in the standings. While there was some debate among league insiders about guaranteeing a playoff berth as a reward for winning the tournament, ultimately that idea — or any other to further incentivize teams — was not enacted. The only playoff impact will come from the wins and losses accrued throughout the tournament.
Because it’s easy enough to change. In the short term, the NBA has said it went with the most basic of titles for both the tournament and its trophy — the “in-season tournament” and “NBA Cup” — as a way to introduce the concept to fans. However, using such bland, nondescript names has another clear advantage: When the league looks to sell the naming rights to both, it’ll be an easier transition from an unremarkable name than one connected with a specific individual (such as the late David Stern, one possibility that had been floated before the tournament was officially unveiled).
*All times are ET
Nov. 3
Pacers 121, Cavaliers 116
Bucks 110, Knicks 105
Heat 121, Wizards 114
Nets 109, Bulls 107
Trail Blazers 115, Grizzlies 113 (OT)
Jdbyg Slot Nuggets 125, Mavericks 114
Warriors 141, Thunder 139
Nov. 10
76ers 114, Pistons 106
Hornets 124, Wizards 117
Celtics 121, Nets 107
Rockets 104, Pelicans 101
Jazz 127, Grizzlies 121
Timberwolves 117, Spurs 110
Mavericks 144, Clippers 129
Lakers 122, Suns 119
Kings 105, Thunder 98
Nov. 14
Pacers 132, 76ers 126
Hawks 126, Pistons 120
Heat 111, Hornets 105
Nets, 124, Magic 104
Pelicans 131, Mavericks 110
Thunder 123, Spurs 87
Nuggets 111, Clippers 108
Timberwolves 104, Warriors 101
Lakers 134, Grizzlies 107
Friday, Nov. 17
Bucks 130, Hornets 99
Knicks 120, Wizards 99
76ers 126, Hawks 116
Cavaliers 108, Pistons 100
Celtics 108, Raptors 105
Kings 129, Spurs 110
Magic 103, Bulls 97
Pelicans 115, Nuggets 110
Suns 131, Jazz 128
Lakers 107, Trail Blazers 95
Clippers 106, Rockets 100
Tuesday, Nov. 21
Cleveland vs. Philadelphia | East A | 7:30 p.m. | TNT
Utah vs. L.A. Lakers | West B | 10 p.m. | TNT
Toronto vs. Orlando | East C | 7 p.m.
Indiana vs. Atlanta | East A | 7:30 p.m.
Portland vs. Phoenix | West A | 9 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 24
Boston vs. Orlando | East C | 2:30 p.m. | NBA TV
Phoenix vs. Memphis | West A | 5 p.m. | NBA TV
Miami vs. New York | East B | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN
San Antonio vs. Golden State | West C | 10 p.m. | ESPN
Chicago vs. Toronto | East C | 7:30 p.m.
Detroit vs. Indiana | East A | 8 p.m.
Denver vs. Houston | West B | 8 p.m.
Washington vs. Milwaukee | East B | 8 p.m.
Sacramento vs. Minnesota | West C | 8 p.m.
New Orleans vs. LA Clippers | West A | 10:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 28
Milwaukee vs. Miami | East B | 7:30 p.m. | TNT
Golden State vs. Sacramento | West C | 10 p.m. | TNT
Chicago vs. Boston | East C | 7:30 p.m.
Toronto vs. Brooklyn | East C | 7:30 p.m.
Atlanta vs. Cleveland | East A | 7:30 p.m.
Charlotte vs. New York | East B | 7:30 p.m.
Oklahoma City vs. Minnesota | West C | 7 p.m.
Houston vs. Dallas | West B | 8:30 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Dec. 4 | TBD | 7 or 7:30 p.m. | TNT
Dec. 4 | TBD | 9:30 or 10 p.m. | TNT
Dec. 5 | TBD | 7 or 7:30 p.m. | TNT
Dec. 5 | TBD | 9:30 or 10 p.m. | TNT
Semifinals
Dec. 7 | TBD | 5 p.m. | ESPN
Dec. 7 | TBD | 9 p.m. | TNT
Championship
Dec. 9 | TBD | 8:30 p.m. | ABC
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