The eight-team knockout stage of the 2024 NBA Cup is set as the group stage of the league’s in-season tournament wrapped up Tuesday night. The Bucks, Knicks, Magic, Thunder and Mavericks clinched the final five knockout stage spots on Tuesday, joining the Warriors, Rockets and Hawks in the quarterfinals. The knockout stage begins next week, and the NBA Cup title game is set for Dec. 17 in Las Vegas.
The Knicks crushed the Magic to win their group on Tuesday, and the Bucks also finished 4-0 in group play as they knocked off the Pistons. There were no unbeaten teams in the West, as both the Rockets and Warriors fell on Tuesday. The Thunder will be the top seed in the Western Conference thanks to their +45 point differential.
With eight teams moving on, here’s a brief summary of how the tournament has worked so far:
- The NBA’s 30 teams were split into six five-team groups: Three groups in the Eastern Conference and three groups in the Western Conference.
- Teams played the other four teams in their group in round-robin style play on Tuesdays and Fridays. The 2024 NBA cup started on Nov. 12, and group play ended on Tuesday (Dec. 3). Every team played four NBA Cup games in the group stage.
- Eight teams (the six group winners plus one wild-card team from each conference) have advanced to the knockout round. The standings were determined by overall record, head-to-head record and point differential if a tiebreaker was needed.
- The knockout round will be a single-elimination bracket. The four East teams will be on one side of the bracket, the four West teams will be on the other. The quarterfinals are Dec. 10 and 11. The semifinals are Dec. 14 in Las Vegas, and the the final between the East and West winners will be held on Dec. 17 (also in Vegas).
Below are the NBA Cup standings.
NBA Cup standings
X – Clinched group
O – Eliminated from knockout contention
WC – Clinched wild card
East Group A
East Group B
East Group C
West Group A
West Group B
West Group C
2024 NBA Cup odds
Odds to win from DraftKings as of Dec. 2. Fans can take action on the NBA Cup with the latest DraftKings promo.
- Knicks: +450
- Rockets: +500
- Thunder: +550
- Warriors: +650
- Bucks: +700
- Magic: +850
- Mavericks: +1200
- Celtics: +1800
- Suns: +2000
- Hawks: +2200
