The 2024-25 season will feature the NBA Cup for the second straight campaign. The tournament — called the in-season tournament last year — will feature all 30 teams.
Here’s a quick reminder of how the NBA Cup works as the league will announce the six groups of five:
The league will have six groups of five NBA squads divided among the Western and Eastern conferences. It will be a Round-robin style of group play where each team will play four games against the rest of their group.
Since it’s only a four-game sample size in group play, tied records are bound to happen. The tiebreaker for the group standings is point differential.
These games will occur on Tuesdays and Fridays throughout the November-December portion of the 2024-25 season.
Whoever has the best record among the six groups advances to an eight-team knockout tournament with two at-large bids. The at-large bids will be one from the West and one from the East.
The quarterfinals will be played from Dec. 10-11. The remainder of the tournament will be held in Las Vegas from Dec. 14-17. The NBA Cup championship will take place on Dec. 17.
The Los Angeles Lakers won the inaugural in-season tournament last year against the Indiana Pacers. The Oklahoma City Thunder finished fourth place in West’s Group C with a 1-3 record.
The NBA Cup winner’s roster will receive $500,000 each. The runner-ups are rewarded with $200,000 per player. The semifinal losers receive $100,000 apiece and the quarterfinal losers receive $50,000 apiece,
