NBA Cup 2025 Format Revealed: tournament Games Count Towards Regular Season
LASโ VEGAS -โ The NBA is moving forward with its second NBAโค Cup tournament โinโ 2025, buildingโ onโ the success of the inaugural โขin-season competition.โ The tournament, featuring a unique structure where games count towards both the cupโ standings and the regular season playoff picture, โขwill culminate in a final four event in Las Vegas.
Here’s how the NBA Cup 2025 in-season โขtournament will โคwork:
All 30 NBA teams will be divided into sixโ groups of fiveโ – three groups within the โขWestern Conference andโข three within theโข Eastern โConference.Eachโค team will play a Round Robin โtournament, facingโข every โother team in their group once for a total of four group games.
Group winners, along โขwith one wildcard team from each conference, will advance to an eight-team, single-elimination knockout bracket. Conference alignment willโฃ be maintained,with the eastern โConference teams on one side of the bracket and the Western Conference teams on โฃthe other. โ
Tiebreakers for group winners and โคwild โฃcard spots will be steadfast by head-to-head record, followedโฃ by point differential.
The NBA Cup semifinals will โbe held in โLasโค Vegas on December 13, followed by the โขNBA cup Final on โDecember 16.
financial incentivesโ are also a keyโ component of the tournament.โ Players on teams โadvancing to the knockout round will receive bonuses fromโค a league-sponsored prize pool, increasing with each round ofโค play.Players โคonโ the championship teamโข will each earn $514,971, while โrunners-up will receive $205,988.
Fans can catch โtournamentโค action on NBCโฃ and Peacock, including a November 25 doubleheader featuring the Orlando Magic vs. theโ Philadelphia โข76ers at 5 โคp.m. ET and the LA Clippers vs. the LA Lakers at 8 p.m. ET.