NBA Cup

NBA officials discussed the possibility of holding an in-season tournament for at least 15 years before it was introduced.^[4] The NBA has been concerned for decades about trying to compete with the National Football League (NFL) for viewers and attention when the two leagues’ regular seasons overlap during November and December each year.^[5]

On July 6, 2023, the NBA announced it would hold the first in-season tournament from November 3 to December 9. The details of the tournament were revealed by the NBA on July 8; ^[6] the group draws were announced and the semifinals and championship were scheduled at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip.^[7][8] The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers in the championship game to win the inaugural NBA Cup.^[3]

The second edition of the NBA Cup was held from November 12 to December 17, 2024 with the semifinals and championship hosted at T-Mobile Arena for the second consecutive year. The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the second NBA Cup championship game.^[9]

On February 2, 2024, the airline company Emirates announced a multi-year deal with the NBA including the naming rights of the NBA Cup.^[10] On December 13, 2024, Refugees International urged the NBA to suspend its partnership with the UAE due to its role in inciting the Sudanese civil war. The organization stated that instead of legitimizing the UAE through sponsorship, the NBA should reevaluate its partnership with the Emirates and use its influence to pressure it to end the involvement in the Sudan war.^[11] Similar concerns were raised during the preseason games hosted by the NBA in Abu Dhabi on October 4-6, 2024. The Human Rights Watch had accused the NBA of "sportswashing" the UAE's human rights record and urged it to cancel the games over the Emirati involvement in the Sudan war.^[12]

The tournament has a similar format to in-season, multi-stage tournaments such as WNBA Commissioner's Cup and those held in association football. The tournament rules are as follows:^[13][14]

• Each conference is divided into three groups with five teams each, for a total of six groups. The top three teams (by previous-season record) are randomly assigned to the three conference groups, then the next three are randomly assigned, and so on.
• Round Robin tournament in each group: Tuesdays and Fridays during November will feature each team playing one game against each of the other teams in its group, for a total of four games (two at home and two on the road). These games also count as regular season games.
• Four teams from each conference advance to a single-elimination tournament: the three pool winners in addition to the group runner-up with the best record as a wild card.
• The Quarterfinal games will be hosted by the two teams with the best record in Group Play games for each conference, and the team with the best record in Group Play games will host the wild card team. If two or more teams are tied for the higher seed in a conference, the tie will be broken following the tiebreaker protocol described below.
• The semifinals and championship game will be played in Las Vegas.
• The championship game does not count as a regular season game.
• For the 2023 tournament, players on the championship team each received $500,000; runners-up received $200,000. The players on the two losing teams in the semifinals received $100,000, and the players on the four losing teams in the quarterfinals received $50,000.^[15]

In the event two or more teams are tied within a group at the end of the Group Play, the tie will be broken according to the following tiebreakers (in sequential order):

• Head-to-head record in the Group Stage
• Point differential in the Group Stage
• Total points scored in the Group Stage
• Regular season record from the 2023-24 NBA regular season
• Random drawing (if two or more teams are still tied following the previous tiebreakers)

If two or more teams are tied for the wild card in a conference, after group tiebreakers are resolved, the wild-card tie will be broken following the same tiebreakers described above (with the exception of the head-to-head record in the Group Stage).^[16]

The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), the players' union, said in 2023 that many players objected to the use of point differential and points scored as tiebreakers. These tiebreakers, according to one report, encouraged teams to run up the score, in violation of the sport's unwritten rules. Players, coaches, and other league employees have suggested alternative tiebreakers, such as limiting point differential to a maximum value per game, or using the number of quarters in which a team outscored its opponent.^[17]

For the NBA Cup games, home teams wear the "Statement" edition uniforms and road teams wear the "Association" edition uniforms.^[a] Cup games are played in basketball courts specially designed for the event. The courts, unlike the ones used in the regular season, feature a fully-painted maple surface with three concentric circles. The NBA Cup is displayed at center court, and silhouettes of the trophy are also painted on the free-throw lanes. The court designs contrast with the home team's "Statement" uniform for that particular season.^[18]

In the Inaugural In-Season Tournament in 2023, home teams wore the "City" edition uniforms. The courts also featured a fully-painted maple surface with a contrasting middle color strip painted from each end of the free-throw lane. The NBA Cup was displayed at center court, and silhouettes of the trophy were also painted on the free-throw lanes.^[19] The court designs were based on the home team's "City" uniform for that season.^[20]

Not all teams were able to play on their new NBA Cup courts. The Dallas Mavericks' two home NBA Cup games in 2023 were played on more traditional basketball courts due to manufacturing issues affecting their NBA Cup court.^[21]

Reactions to the unique court designs were mixed, with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban saying he "wasn't a fan" of the courts, though he did admit that they were a "brilliant marketing idea".^[21] Some players, including Jaylen Brown and Luka Dončić, complained that the new courts were slippery.^[22][23] Some fans complained on social media that the courts were too bright and distracting.^[24]

For the semifinal and final rounds at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the tournament court was blue with a red middle strip.^[25] However, despite playing all tournament games in their black "City" uniforms through the quarterfinals, the Los Angeles Lakers were forced to wear their gold "Icon" uniforms in the semifinal round due to lack of contrast with the court,^[26] against the wishes of Lakers players. The Indiana Pacers were also hit with the same restriction.^[27]

The 2024 semifinal and final round court featured a similar aesthetic as the team-specific NBA Cup courts for that year, with bracket motifs complementing the three concentric circles and blue and red gradients representing the Eastern and Western Conferences respectively.^[28]

With the exception of the championship game, all games in the tournament are counted as regular season games.

To adjust for the differing number of games played by different teams, the NBA's regular season scheduling formula will be modified so only 80 games for each team are initially announced prior to the beginning of the season, with two other scheduled games to be announced:^[15]

• The 22 teams who do not qualify for the knockout rounds of the tournament will play two additional games, one at home and one on the road, against other teams eliminated prior to the knockout rounds. These games will occur during the Knockout Rounds on days when NBA Cup games are not scheduled.
• The four teams who lose in the quarterfinals will play one additional game against the opponent from the same conference on the day before the tournament Championship Game.

• The first parentheses in the Western champions and Eastern champions columns indicate the teams' playoff seed. The second parentheses indicate the number of times that teams have appeared in an NBA Cup Finals as well as each respective team's Finals record to date.

After the tournament, the league awards the NBA Cup trophy, NBA Cup Most Valuable Player award, championship medals, and an All-Tournament Team.^[35]

All-NBA Cup teams and MVPs

LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers, 2023 MVP

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks, 2024 MVP

The winner of the Most Valuable Player award is decided by members of a selected media panel, as well as by online fan votes. In the inaugural tournament, 20 votes were decided by media members while 5 votes were decided by fans.^[37]

Players in bold were the NBA Cup MVP. Numbers in parentheses denote the number of All-NBA Cup Team selections up to and including that year.

More information Year, Players ...

Year	Players	Teams	Ref.
2023	Giannis Antetokounmpo	Milwaukee Bucks	[38][39]
	Anthony Davis	Los Angeles Lakers
	Kevin Durant	Phoenix Suns
	Tyrese Haliburton	Indiana Pacers
	LeBron James	Los Angeles Lakers
2024	Giannis Antetokounmpo (2)	Milwaukee Bucks	[40][41]
	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	Oklahoma City Thunder
	Damian Lillard	Milwaukee Bucks
	Alperen Şengün	Houston Rockets
	Trae Young	Atlanta Hawks

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