The NBA Cup is an annual in-season competition the league created last year (when it was simply known as the In-Season Tournament) to gin up interest in the beginning of the NBA calendar. Four of the early games on each team’s regular-season schedule were marked as NBA Cup contests, meaning they count towards teams’ regular-season records and their status in the Cup.
The 30 teams are divided into six groups of five, with three groups for each conference). The winners of the six groups, along with the best second-place team in Cup games in each conference, advance to a single-elimination eight-team tournament. The winners of the four quarterfinal contests then travel to Las Vegas to contest the semifinals and final, with the winner earning the NBA Cup and a prize of just over half a million dollars per player.
All games except for the final also count toward each team’s regular-season record. Each team enters the season with only 80 of their 82 regular-season games accounted for. The 22 teams that fail to advance will be reassigned their two remaining regular-season games during the week of the knockout round, while the quarterfinal losers in each conference will face each other to fill out their schedules.
Here’s a more detailed explanation of the format.
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What to know about NBA Cup 2024: Format, start dates, favorites and more
