SGA’s 40-point game lifts Thunder to 18-1 record (1:57)Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tallies 40 points, six assists and six rebounds in the Thunder’s win over the Timberwolves. (1:57)
How will this impact the regular-season schedule and standings?
Are the semifinals and finals still being played in Las Vegas?
Will anyone earn individual honors for their play in NBA Cup games?
The third iteration of the Emirates NBA Cup continues as group play wraps up this week and the knockout-round matchups begin to take shape
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers won the inaugural in-season tournament trophy in 2023, with James claiming the honors of tournament MVP. Last season, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks raised their NBA Cup banner over the eventual NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But which team will stake its claim for the hardware in Las Vegas this year, and can it continue that tournament momentum into the postseason?
The most important Eastern Conference game on Wednesday took place in Florida, where the Miami Heat won their sixth straight game, surviving a late scare from the Milwaukee Bucks to move to 3-1 in East Group C. In his second game back from offseason ankle surgery, Tyler Herro scored 29 points on 9-for-15 shooting, while centers Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware combined for 28 points and 20 rebounds.
At the same time, the New York Knicks enjoyed a blowout win in Charlotte to move to 2-1 in Cup play. The Heat, Bucks and Knicks are all still alive for the Group C crown as they enter the final day of group play on Friday.
Those two results also guarantee that Group C will finish with two 3-1 teams (the Heat and the winner of Friday’s Bucks-Knicks game), so every Eastern Conference team with two losses was eliminated on Wednesday: the Washington Wizards, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls.
Elsewhere, in Group B, the Celtics ended the Detroit Pistons’ 13-game win streak, but the result won’t get in the way of Detroit’s path to the knockout rounds: The winner of Friday’s matchup between Detroit and the Orlando Magic will win the group and advance.
Whether it’s the NBA Cup or not, it’s hard to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder. Wednesday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves moved Oklahoma City to 18-1 this season, continuing its best start since the Golden State Warriors en route to 73 wins a decade ago. More relevant for now, the Thunder are 3-0 in NBA Cup play while the Timberwolves were all but eliminated with their second loss.
Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns also improved to 3-0 in Group A. Up 22 at halftime in Sacramento, the Suns couldn’t maintain that big lead, which could matter given the importance of point differential as a tiebreaker. They settled for a 12-point win over the Kings.
The night’s biggest West Cup game saw the Portland Trail Blazers go for an improbable finish atop Group C, hosting the San Antonio Spurs with a chance to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals.
Getting a season-high 37 points from De’Aaron Fox, his most since being traded to San Antonio, the Spurs played spoilers in Portland and set themselves up for a win-and-in scenario on Friday.
The Memphis Grizzlies can’t win Group B, clinched Tuesday night by the Los Angeles Lakers, but outlasting the New Orleans Pelicans in overtime, behind 21 points and 15 boards from Zach Edey kept their slim hopes of earning the West’s wild-card spot. — Kevin Pelton
The Raptors remain the only Eastern Conference team to clinch a spot in the knockout rounds, and six teams are in contention for the final three spots.
In Detroit, the Pistons and Magic will face off for a berth in the quarterfinals, as the game’s winner will claim the Group B title. Detroit would be eliminated with a loss, while Orlando could still clinch the East’s lone wild card spot with a narrow loss, thanks to the Magic’s plus-61 point differential through three games.
Group C’s resolution could be a bit knottier. If Milwaukee wins in New York on Friday, then the Heat would claim the group victory, because Miami and Milwaukee would have matching 3-1 records and Miami holds the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Bucks would struggle to grab the wild card in that scenario, as their Cup point differential sits at only plus-13 entering their final game.
Finally, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ trip to Atlanta comes with Cup stakes. The Cavaliers have accumulated a plus-33 point differential en route to a 2-1 Cup record, and a blowout win over the Hawks — or a win of any size, if the Magic beat the Pistons and the Bucks beat but don’t blow out the Knicks — could land them the wild card spot. — Kram
The Suns and Thunder meet Friday in Oklahoma City with the top spot in Group A on the line, but a little of the excitement is undercut by the fact that both undefeated teams might reach the quarterfinals. In fact, we might have a rematch at the same arena in the quarterfinals next week if the Thunder win close on Friday.
With a league-best plus-71 point differential in NBA Cup play, Oklahoma City is all but assured of advancing as either the No. 1 seed in the West or the wild card.
Phoenix’s chances are more tenuous with a loss, but their plus-35 differential is currently best of the contenders and San Antonio’s win means Group C can no longer produce a wild card. The Clippers and Grizzlies will square off, with both looking for a decisive win to get in the wild card conversation.
However, the night’s only clear deciding game will come in Denver, where the Nuggets host the Spurs for Group C supremacy. San Antonio will remain without All-Star center Victor Wembanyama, who’s sidelined by a calf strain. The stakes are clear: Friday’s winner takes Group C, while the loser will be eliminated. — Pelton
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.
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 — the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, LA Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and Washington Wizards — scheduled to play on Dec. 17, the day after the championship game in Las Vegas.
Any 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.
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.
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:
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 (or, in some leagues, multiple tournaments) 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.
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 Sacramento Kings at the Indiana Pacers; the Phoenix Suns at the Minnesota Timberwolves; and the San Antonio Spurs at the New Orleans Pelicans. If any of those teams are playing in the quarterfinals, taking place on Dec. 9 and 10, those games would move to Dec. 7 (a decision that would be made by Nov. 29, the day after the end of the group stage).
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.
In 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.