The National Basketball Association (NBA) has introduced the NBA Cup, an in-season tournament, meant to provide teams with an additional competitive opportunity and a chance to compete for a trophy during the regular season. The tournament will have a prize pool of approximately $18 million and will culminate in a championship game held in Las Vegas on December 9.
The tournament will feature payouts for players on standard contracts, with $500,000 awarded to each player on the winning team, $200,000 to each player on the runner-up team, $100,000 to each player on the teams that lose in the semifinals, and $50,000 to each player on the teams eliminated in the quarterfinals. Two-way players on any of those teams will be eligible for up to half of those amounts based on their participation in the tournament.
The tournament will begin on November 3, with games primarily scheduled on Tuesdays and Fridays in November. However, there will be no games on November 7 to observe Election Day, continuing the NBA’s effort to promote civic awareness and engagement. The Final Four of the tournament will take place in Las Vegas, a city known for hosting major events.
Teams have been assigned to five-team groups, with each team playing a game against every other team in their group. The six group winners and the two best second-place teams will advance to the quarterfinals. The groups have been divided based on geographical regions, with teams from the Western and Eastern Conferences participating.
The tournament games, except for the championship game, will count towards the regular season standings, similar to the structure of the WNBA’s Commissioner’s Cup event. However, the championship game, being the 83rd game for the two teams involved, will not count in the standings, and the statistics from that game will not be recorded. The focus of the championship game will be on competing for the trophy and the monetary rewards.