NBA Cup, explained: Format, schedule, groups, prize money for 2025 in-season tournament

The NBA Cup returns for a third year in 2025.

Still a relatively new event, the NBA’s in-season tournament is becoming a fixture for fans on the annual calendar. This year, the action begins slightly earlier, with games tipping off in late October and running through the end of November.

Both of the league’s new broadcast partners will carry games, but Amazon Prime will serve as the official home for the premier NBA Cup matchups.

With the cup set to get underway, here’s a refresher on how it works, along with what’s new for 2025.

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NBA Cup format

There are two stages of the NBA Cup: group play and the knockout rounds.

Group Play

As the name indicates, group Play includes all 30 NBA teams. These teams are organized in six groups (three per conference) of five teams, randomly drawn based on their win-loss records during the 2024-25 campaign.

Teams will play a total of four Group Play Games — one game against each of the other four teams in the group. Each team will play two Group Play games at home and two on the road.

Group Play is critical as it determines seeding and which teams advance to the Knockout Rounds. These games also count toward each team's regular-season record.

Eight teams advance to the Knockout Rounds. The six group winners automatically advance, in addition to two "wild card" teams (one per conference). "Wild cards" are the teams from each conference with the best record in group play games that finished second in their respective groups.

Tiebreaker rules apply when determining "wild cards."

Seeding and tiebreakers

With just four group play games, there is a sequence of tiebreakers enacted when teams finish with the same record.

When two teams are tied within a group, the winner is determined by head-to-head record. If two or more teams are tied within a group, here is the order in which ties are broken:

• Head-to-head record in Group Play;
• Point differential in Group Play; 
• Total points scored in Group Play; 
• Record from the 2024-25 NBA regular season;
• Random drawing (in the unlikely scenario that two or more teams are still tied following the previous tiebreakers).

Overtime scoring does not count toward point differential and total points tiebreakers, per the NBA. The point differential for gmes that go to overtime will be "0" and points scored past overtime will not count to the total tally.

If two or more teams are tied for the wild card in a conference, the above protocol will be used as a tiebreaker, with the exception of head-to-head record in Group Play.

Knockout Rounds

In each conference, teams that advance past group play are seeded 1 through 4 in the Knockout Round, based on their group play results. Wild cards are automatically seeded fourth.

The Quarterfinals are played at the home arenas of the top two seeds in each conference. The No. 1 seed hosts the wild card, while No. 2 hosts No. 3. The Knockout Rounds are single-elimination, with each losing team eliminated from contention for the NBA Cup.

Winners of the Quarterfinals advance to Las Vegas, which will host the Semifinals and Championship game at T-Mobile Arena in 2025.

Quarterfinal and Semifinal games count toward a team’s regular-season record, but the Championship does not. The two teams that reach the final will effectively play 83 games in the 2024-25 NBA season.

What happens to teams that are eliminated from the NBA Cup?

The 22 teams that do not qualify for the Knockout Rounds will play two regular-season games on the following Knockout Round off nights:

• Dec. 11 or 12
• Dec. 14 or 15

The four teams that are eliminated in the Quarterfinals will play a regular-season game on Dec. 11, 12, 14, or 15.

NBA Cup groups

East: Group A

• Atlanta Hawks
• Cleveland Cavaliers
• Indiana Pacers
• Toronto Raptors
• Washington Wizards

East: Group B

• Boston Celtics
• Brooklyn Nets
• Detroit Pistons
• Orlando Magic
• Philadelphia 76ers

East: Group C

• Charlotte Hornets
• Chicago Bulls
• Miami Heat
• Milwaukee Bucks
• New York Knicks

West: Group A

• Minnesota Timberwolves
• Oklahoma City Thunder
• Phoenix Suns
• Sacramento Kings
• Utah Jazz

West: Group B

• Dallas Mavericks
• LA Clippers
• Los Angeles Lakers
• Memphis Grizzlies
• New Orleans Pelicans

West: Group C

• Denver Nuggets
• Golden State Warriors
• Houston Rockets
• Portland Trail Blazers
• San Antonio Spurs

NBA Cup prize money

NBA Cup prize money is awarded based on how far teams advance in the tournament, per the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement. Each player on the eight teams that advance to the quarterfinals will receive a figure over $50,000.

The exact numbers are based on basketball-related income (BRI), but here is what the winners received in the 2024 tournament, per USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt. These figures are per player.

• Win championship: $514,790
• Reach championship game: $205,988
• Reach semifinal game: $102,994
• Reach quarterfinal game: $51,497

NBA Cup MVP and an All-Tournament team are selected based on plaeyrs' performance during Group Play and the Knockout Rounds.

These payouts also include teams' coaching staffs. Head coaches receive the same amount as players, while assistant coaches receive an additional share of the pool money that equals 75 percent of the head coach's total payout.

NBA Cup schedule

• Group play start date: Oct. 31
• Group play end date: Nov. 28
• Quarterfinals: Dec. 9-10
• Semifinals: Dec. 13
• Championship: Dec. 16

The 2025 NBA Cup begins on Friday, Oct. 31.

In total, there will be seven "Cup Nights' of group play: Oct. 31, Nov. 7,  Nov. 14, Nov. 21, Nov. 25,  Nov. 26, and Nov. 28. The Knockout Rounds begin on Dec. 9, concluding with the NBA Cup Championship on Dec. 16 in Las Vegas.

Friday, Oct. 31

Friday, Nov. 7

Friday, Nov. 14

Friday, Nov. 21

Tuesday, Nov. 25

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Wednesday, Nov. 26

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Friday, Nov. 28

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NBA Cup winners