What the Heck Is the NBA Cup?!

I’ve established repeatedly that watching sports is a waste of time. Yet I willingly continue to make the same mistake. Take the NBA Cup, for example. This newish, in-season NBA tournament isn’t worthy of my (or your) time. Is it? Let’s find out.

A Little Background

The NBA (National Basketball Association) is the world’s premier basketball league. Headquartered in New York City, the 30-team league rakes in annual revenue in the range of $14 billion, attracting talent from all corners of the globe.

But despite the monetary success of the star-driven enterprise, grabbing headlines in an NFL-obsessed country isn’t a given, and mainstream interest in the 82-game NBA season doesn’t pick up until Christmas (or, for that matter, until the conclusion of the Super Bowl in early February).

It doesn’t help that even prior to the season, a reasonable number of teams have no hope of accomplishing anything meaningful beyond positioning themselves for draft picks. Throw in the fact that NBA players have earned a reputation for taking a liberal number of nights off, and it’s easy to see why casual fans are dismissive of the regular season.

Enter the NBA Cup, a soccer-inspired, in-season tournament that just might convince the naysayers that the NBA regular season is…not totally pointless.

The NBA Cup

Since the 2023-24 season, an October-December tournament has been incorporated into the regular season using the strategy outlined below.

The 15 teams from the Eastern Conference are divided into three groups of five, as are the 15 teams from the Western Conference. Group assignment is randomized, though records from the previous season are accounted for such that groups have a balance of good, mediocre, and bad teams. Here are the groupings for the fourth annual event (2026-27 season).

East Group A: Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets

East Group B: New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers

East Group C: Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards

West Group A: Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz

West Group B: Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Memphis Grizzlies

West Group C: San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings

Each team plays the other four in its group once during group play. Two of the games are at home and two on the road, with all four counting toward regular season standings. Games are typically held on Friday nights, known as Cup Nights, and are played on notoriously ugly courts to ensure viewers know they’re not watching just another regular season matchup.

The winners of the six groups as well as the two best second place teams (one from the East and one from the West) advance to the knockout rounds, i.e. single-elimination games starting with the quarterfinals.

Quarterfinal and semifinal games are hosted by the higher-seeded teams and count toward the regular season.

The championship game, which stands out for not counting toward the regular season, is played at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Somehow, NBA schedulers have figured out a way to still have each team play 82 games—aside, of course, from the two sides that make the final (though, again, that 83rd game doesn’t actually count toward regular season standings or statistics).

The NBA Cup, it must be mentioned, comes with far more than mere bragging rights (and a trophy). Each player on the championship team receives a healthy $604,985, while those on the second place team land $241,994 apiece. Players who lose in the semifinals take home $120,997 each, and those exiting in the quarterfinals settle for a personal bonus of $60,499. These generous figures suggest that the NBA itself is hoping to cash in, namely via selling media and/or naming rights for the proceedings. (Amazon and Emirates currently have the respective honors.)

So yes, there’s clearly upside for the league and its players, but is this NBA Cup thing worth our time? We’ll find out when we watch.