The NBA announced the dates for the second NBA Cup, which was previously named the In-Season Tournament. Group-play action starts Nov. 12, and the semifinals and championship games will again be held in Las Vegas on Dec. 14 and 17. Last season, the Los Angeles Lakers won the inaugural event, beating the Indiana Pacers 123-109, with LeBron James winning tournament MVP.
The league announced it would host the draw to determine the groups for the next NBA Cup on Friday. The event format will stay the same, with all 30 teams randomly drawn into six groups of five based on their record from the previous season. Once the groups are drawn, the teams will play each other next season on Tuesdays and Fridays, which will be called “Cup Nights,” between Nov. 12 and Dec. 3.
In addition to the event dates, the league unveiled a new logo for the tournament, which features the renamed NBA Cup alongside the trophy and Emirates, the event’s sponsor.
The NBA Cup was introduced last season to incentivize players and fans to show more interest in early-season games. While there were some bumps with the first iteration — primarily the gaudy courts the NBA used — there was buy-in from fans and the players to make it an intriguing new wrinkle on the NBA’s calendar.
Once group play is complete with each team playing the other four teams in their assigned group once, eight teams will advance to the knockout stage. The top six teams in each group will advance, along with two “wild cards” — one team from each conference with the best record in group play that placed second. The knockout stage will be single elimination and starts Dec. 10. The semifinals will be on Dec. 14, with the championship game on Dec. 17.
The NBA Cup winners and the second-place team split a prize money pool. Last season, each Lakers player received $500,000 for winning, while the Pacers players received $200,000 for being the runner-up.
