The third edition of the in-season tournament tips off on Friday. Let's take a look at who has the best chance to advance to Vegas in December.
Thus far, the Cup's single-elimination bracket has yielded tricks for favorites and treats to underdogs. Although the eventual NBA championAll of that is to say: Predicting the NBA Cup is a spooky proposition.
Still, we look at which teams are best positioned with the help of projections usingFor all six NBA Cup groups, we've used BPI to identify a favorite to advance, plus other contenders with an eye on how the wild-card spots in each conference might shake out. Let's look at who has the best chance to advance to Vegas in December. This top-heavy group is the most likely to fill the East's wild-card spot. That's partially because teams get the benefit of facing the Wizards, who rank last in BPI, as well as the Pacers, the 2023 runner-up, who Indiana played Wednesday without a whooping eight players due to injuries, including the top four guards from the team's full-strength roster . Some of them should be back for the Pacers' last three NBA Cup games, but they'll be short-handed for Friday's opener against Atlanta., but are off to a3-2 start nonetheless. With the Hawks starting slowly, Cleveland is a clear favorite in this group. Atlanta hosting Toronto on Nov. 7 could be the key matchup to determining wild-card contention. The league tries to balance NBA Cup groups by putting teams together based on their record from the previous season. That can throw things off when teams' fortunes change dramatically, as is the case with Boston after Boston's downturn leaves Group B wide open. Comeback wins over Charlotte and Washington take some air out of the Sixers' 4-0 start, but they have the benefit of hosting Orlando in a potentially crucial Cup game. The Magicbut are still having familiar difficulty creating half-court offense. Their 1.04 points per possession outside transition rank 29th in the NBA, per GeniusIQ., which hosts Orlando and Philadelphia. The Pistons started last year's NBA Cup 3-0 before being blown out by the Bucks in their group finale, taking them out of wild-card contention. This year's NBA Cup will test the perfect record of Milwaukee assistant coach Darvin Ham, who won the inaugural trophy as head coach of the Lakers before joining the Bucks in time for last year's triumph. The Bucks have reached Las Vegas both years, but that was with With Milwaukee's roster weakened, despite a head-to-head loss Tuesday, the Knicks are the comfortable favorites in the deepest East group. New York also gets the benefit of hosting Milwaukee on the last night of group play. However, there's extra importance to each game for the Knicks because this is the least likely East group to produce a wild-card team, according to BPI. Unlike Groups A and B, Group C doesn't appear to have a pushover with the Hornets blowing out the bottom teams in those groups during the season's first week. Meanwhile, the other 2025 lottery team in this group has started this season 4-0 and the surging Heat have the East's best point differentialfinished anywhere but at the top of Group A. Not only do the Thunder have far and away the league's best BPI rating, but this group looks atypically weak withlikely to miss at least Minnesota's opening game with a hamstring strain suffered during the opening weekend of the season. The schedule does work in the Timberwolves' favor with their matchup against Oklahoma City not scheduled until Thanksgiving Eve. Minnesota's first two NBA Cup games are at home, and Edwards could be back by the time they hit the road on Nov. 21, making getting to the finale against the Thunder 3-0 a realistic goal. The other three teams in this group have a combined one win this season against teams besides each other: Utah's shocking opening night blowout of thefor their group opener Friday in Memphis, though James could be back by the time they play Nov. 14 and will have time to adjust before a showdown against the Clippers on Nov. 25. The Clippers came into the season with the best projection of any team in this group, and a troubling opening night blowout in Salt Lake City looks like an outlier. Because their matchup with the Lakers is at the Crypto.com Arena, the Clippers will only have to play one NBA Cup game outside of L.A. If the Grizzlies can beat the Lakers on Friday, they'll likely be in contention to win the group up until their finale against the Clippers in L.A. The Mavericks and Pelicans haven't yet shown enough to suggest they're serious contenders. We saved the best group for last. The loaded West Group C includes two of the three West teams with over/under totals of at least 50 wins entering this season at ESPN BET , plus a Warriors team my model was high on and the undefeated Spurs. This is the only group with no team given at least a 30% chance of winning, and nobody's all that close. Last-place Portland has looked competitive early in the season, beating Golden State at home, which might make it hard for the runner-up in this group to pile up a strong enough point differential to win the wild card.'s first trip to Chase Center with Houston -- could be the marquee game of group play. Group C might not be decided until San Antonio visits the Nuggets two nights later in the final game.LA chase: Robbery suspects run red lights, avoid spike strips
Oklahoma-City-Thunder Golden-State-Warriors La-Clippers Washington-Wizards Denver-Nuggets Detroit-Pistons Portland-Trail-Blazers Los-Angeles-Lakers Memphis-Grizzlies Cleveland-Cavaliers Chicago-Bulls Miami-Heat Nba-Power-Rankings San-Antonio-Spurs New-Orleans-Pelicans Orlando-Magic Dallas-Mavericks Minnesota-Timberwolves 2025-26-Nba-Season Houston-Rockets Sacramento-Kings Boston-Celtics Nba Brooklyn-Nets Charlotte-Hornets Toronto-Raptors Utah-Jazz New-York-Knicks Indiana-Pacers Daily Milwaukee-Bucks Philadelphia-76Ers Phoenix-Suns Atlanta-Hawks 18089941
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Moncler Group Proves Resilient, Posts a Better-than-expected Performance in Q3Moncler Group reports resilient Q3 2025 performance with sales driven by China and Americas.
Read more »
2025–26 Carabao Cup Quarterfinal Draw: Date, Time, Qualified TeamsArsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City are all pushing for a spot in the last eight.
Read more »
NBA season 2025-26: Best and worst from the first weekOur insiders break down standout moments and answer the biggest questions from the first days of the NBA season.
Read more »
NBA season 2025-26: Best and worst from the first weekOur insiders break down standout moments and answer the biggest questions from the first days of the NBA season.
Read more »
NBA Cup 2025 In-Season Tournament: How to Watch Games Live Online for FreeThe 2025 NBA Cup in-season tournament starts on Friday, Oct. 31 and goes until Tuesday, Dec. 16: Here’s how to find, watch and livestream online.
Read more »
2025 NFL trade deadline: Which teams should add, subtract?Could the Lions add help? Will the Jets trade away stars? Should the Giants make any moves? Let's look at which teams might swing deadline deals.
Read more »