The 2025 NBA Cup tips off on Oct. 31. Here's everything you need to know about the third annual in-season tournament, including schedule and rule changes.
The third iteration of the Emirates NBA Cup is set to start on Halloween night, Oct. 31 -- a little over a week after the 2025-26 NBA regular season tips off.were able to win the inaugural in-season tournament trophy in 2023, with James claiming the honors of tournament MVP.
Last season, But which team will claim its stake over the hardware in Las Vegas this year, and can it continue that tournament momentum into the postseason? Here's what you need to know about the in-season tournament, including rule changes for this year and the schedule. The NBA unveiled the six groups for the third edition of its in-season tournament -- now called the Emirates NBA Cup. Here's a look at everything you'll need to know about the return of the competition.NBA commissioner Adam Silver has had a long-standing fascination with European soccer. Establishing an in-season cup competition within the NBA schedule came from soccer leagues having both a regular-season title, won by the team with the most points over the full year, and a separate tournament that runs concurrently with the league season. In England, for example, there are the various divisions -- led by the Premier League -- and also the FA Cup competition. But unlike those European leagues, which play their cup competitions outside of their league schedules, the NBA Cup is built into the regular-season slate. The 30 NBA teams are split into six five-team groups -- three featuring Eastern Conference teams, and three comprising Western Conference teams -- with each team then playing one game against the other four in its group. The winner of each group, plus the team with the best record among the non-group winners, will then advance to the knockout stage of the competition.Typically, the NBA sends out a full 82-game schedule in mid-August. Now, the league sends out only 80 games and leaves a gap for roughly a week to fill in later, depending on how the group stage of the NBA Cup plays out. The two teams from the East and West that lose in the quarterfinals will play their 82nd game against one another on one of four dates: Dec. 11, 12, 14 or 15. Meanwhile, the 22 teams that fail to qualify for the knockout rounds will have their final two games scheduled -- one at home and one on the road -- on Dec. 11 or 12 and 14 or 15 against others eliminated in the group stage. The teams that reach the NBA Cup's finale will actually play 83 games -- though the championship game won't count toward the standings or any statistical markers. All four teams that make it to Las Vegas for the semifinals will have completed their 82 games, and won't need anything else added. The additional wrinkle added to this year's schedule is the possibility that a few dates on the calendar may move around. On Dec. 8, there are currently three games scheduled: the. If any of those teams are playing in the quarterfinals, taking place on Dec. 9 and 10, those games would move to Dec. 7 . This also would only be an issue if one of the teams were playing on Dec. 9. If they're playing Dec. 10, nothing will change. The other scheduling quirk is that there are currently eight teams -- theAny team that makes it to the semifinals in Las Vegas would have that game moved later into the schedule to avoid back-to-back games. The NBA made this change in an effort to avoid having empty days on the calendar while attempting to minimize back-to-back games for all teams as much as possible.For this season, yes. Next year, however, the semifinals -- like the quarterfinals -- will be played at home sites. Having teams go to Sin City for a week hasn't gone the way the league initially believed that it would.Most of the games are being shown on Amazon Prime, including the knockout rounds. The schedule is also primarily on Fridays, beginning on Halloween, rather than bouncing back and forth from Tuesday to Friday throughout November as it did during the first two years of the tournament.Before its launch, one of the main questions surrounding the in-season tournament was why any team would be incentivized to compete in it. The NBA ensured teams will be motivated by making every game part of the season -- and, being in-conference, potentially important from a playoff-tiebreaker standpoint. If this had been set up like the cup tournaments in European soccer, there would have been nothing stopping NBA teams from opting out, literally or figuratively -- sitting their top players for extra rest.To create the groups, the NBA put all 15 teams in each conference into five pots, separated by their finish in last season's standings. Pot 1 included the teams that finished 1-3 in regular-season record, teams 4-6 went into Pot 2, teams 7-9 into Pot 3, teams 10-12 into Pot 4, and teams 13-15 into Pot 5. As a result, the following groups were drawn:This one is easy: West Group C. Three of the top four teams in the Western Conference -- Houston, Denver and Golden State -- are in the group, plus a Blazers team that excelled down the stretch last season. Oh, and don't forget aboutand the Spurs, too. West Group B is also competitive, but Memphis is already dealing with injuries, Dallas is missingIn 2023, the first year the tournament was held, the players on the winning team received $500,000 each, while those on the runners-up got $200,000. The losing players of the semifinals each got $100,000, and those ousted in the quarterfinals each got $50,000. Now, in each subsequent year, the prizes will be slightly higher, as a result of negotiated raises year over year to keep pace with increases in the salary cap and basketball-related income as part of the most recent collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association.There will be an MVP award, as well as an all-tournament team.Not beyond the games counting in the regular-season standings . The only playoff impact comes from the wins and losses accrued throughout the tournament. Though there was debate among league insiders about guaranteeing a playoff berth for winning the tournament, ultimately, that idea was not enacted.The league struck a sponsorship deal with Emirates, the Dubai-based airline, to sponsor the tournament after its initial run. The NBA said last year that it went with the most basic 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 nondescript names had another clear advantage: It gave the league a blank slate in case the tournament and cup became properties it ended up selling to a sponsor, and avoided the complications that could arise by naming them after someone .Toronto Raptors at Cleveland Cavaliers, 7:30 p.m.Los Angeles Lakers at Memphis Grizzlies, 9:30 p.m.Cleveland Cavaliers at Washington Wizards, 7:00 p.m.Houston Rockets at San Antonio Spurs, 7:30 p.m.Utah Jazz at Minnesota Timberwolves, 8:00 p.m.Oklahoma City Thunder at Sacramento Kings, 10:00 p.m.Philadelphia 76ers at Detroit Pistons, 7:30 p.m.Portland Trail Blazers at Houston Rockets, 8:00 p.m.Sacramento Kings at Minnesota Timberwolves, 8:00 p.m.Indiana Pacers at Cleveland Cavaliers, 7:00 p.m.Miami Heat at Chicago Bulls, 8:00 p.m.Minnesota Timberwolves at Phoenix Suns, 9:00 p.m.Portland Trail Blazers at Golden State Warriors, 10:00 p.m.Orlando Magic at Philadelphia 76ers, 8:00 p.m.New York Knicks at Charlotte Hornets, 7:00 p.m.Minnesota Timberwolves at Oklahoma City Thunder, 7:30 p.m.Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors, 10:00 p.m. Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks, 7:30 p.m.Orlando Magic at Detroit Pistons, 7:30 p.m.Phoenix Suns at Oklahoma City Thunder, 9:30 p.m.Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Lakers, 10:00 p.m.
Oklahoma-City-Thunder Golden-State-Warriors La-Clippers Washington-Wizards Denver-Nuggets Detroit-Pistons Nba-Cup Portland-Trail-Blazers Los-Angeles-Lakers Memphis-Grizzlies Cleveland-Cavaliers Chicago-Bulls Miami-Heat Event 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 Daily Indiana-Pacers Milwaukee-Bucks Philadelphia-76Ers Phoenix-Suns In-Season-Tournament Atlanta-Hawks 18031782
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