Full NBA Cup Schedule: Every Game of the NBA's In-Season Tournament

The full schedule for this year's Emirates NBA Cup.

Dec 9, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) hoists the NBA Cup and celebrates with teammates after winning the NBA In-Season Tournament Championship game against the Indiana Pacers at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports / Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

During the 2023-24 season, the NBA debuted its in-season tournament, also known as the NBA Cup. And it was a success, as far as these things go. While the special courts the league insisted on using for every Cup game were hit or miss, fans generally enjoyed the heightened intensity of what would otherwise be standard regular season games.

The Los Angeles Lakers, led by LeBron James, seemed legitimately excited to be the first to win the Cup and a banner now hangs in Crypto.com Arena.

The 2024-25 season will bring the second iteration of the tournament. Now it's called the Emirates NBA Cup and the "In-Season Tournament" nickname is done away with to keep to what the sponsor paid for. It remains to be seen if the funky courts will remain.

On Tuesday, Aug. 13, the NBA released the full Emirates NBA Cup schedule. Here's everything you need to know about the games and surrounding circumstances.

History of the NBA Cup

One of the more talked-about problems the NBA has faced in the last decade or so has been the devaluing of regular-season games. With such a focus by fans and media on championships won as a metric of measuring greatness, players have zeroed in on the playoffs as the most important time of the year. Which means they will do whatever it takes to enjoy a healthy postseason, even if it comes at the cost of sitting out regular season games or not quite pushing themselves all the way to the limit when a playoff opportunity is not on the line.

The NBA Cup is commissioner Adam Silver's answer to that. By introducing a playoff-like format in the middle of the season, the games are given more meaning. Fans and players both get more invested. In essence, it grants excitement to otherwise relatively boring games in the middle of the NBA calendar.

Notable moments

In the one NBA Cup that's been held so far, LeBron James winning would qualify as the biggest moment. The King is on the back nine of his basketball career and seeing him lock down the Indiana Pacers to lift another trophy was very cool. He earned the first-ever NBA Cup MVP as a result.

2024 NBA Cup Schedule

Here's the full schedule for the 2024 NBA Cup.

Tuesday, November 12

AWAY	HOME	GROUP	TIME
Atlanta Hawks	Boston Celtics	East C	7 p.m. ET
Miami Heat	Detroit Pistons	East B	7 p.m. ET
Charlotte Hornets	Orlando Magic	East A	7 p.m. ET
New York Knicks	Philadelphia 76ers	East A	7:30 p.m. ET
Toronto Raptors	Milwaukee Bucks	East B	8 p.m. ET
Phoenix Suns	Utah Jazz	West B	9 p.m. ET
Minnesota Timberwolves	Portland Trail Blazers	West A	10 p.m. ET
Dallas Mavericks	Golden State Warriors	West C	10 p.m. ET

Friday, November 15

AWAY	HOME	GROUP	TIME
Miami Heat	Indiana Pacers	East B	7 p.m. ET
Philadelphia 76ers	Orlando Magic	East A	7 p.m. ET
Detroit Pistons	Toronto Raptors	East B	7 p.m. ET
Los Angeles Lakers	San Antonio Spurs	West B	7:30 p.m. ET
Washington Wizards	Atlanta Hawks	East C	7:30 p.m. ET
Chicago Bulls	Cleveland Cavaliers	East C	7:30 p.m. ET
Brooklyn Nets	New York Knicks	East A	7:30 p.m .ET
Los Angeles Clippers	Houston Rockets	West A	8 p.m. ET
Denver Nuggets	New Orleans Pelicans	West C	8 p.m. ET
Phoenix Suns	Oklahoma City Thunder	West B	8 p.m. ET
Minnesota Timberwolves	Sacramento Kings	West A	10 p.m. ET
Memphis Grizzlies	Golden State Warriors	West C	10 p.m. ET

Friday, November 22

AWAY	HOME	GROUP	TIME
Brooklyn Nets	Philadelphia 76ers	East A	7 p.m. ET
Boston Celtics	Washington Wizards	East C	7 p.m. ET
Indiana Pacers	Milwaukee Bucks	East B	7:30 p.m. ET
Atlanta Hawks	Chicago Bulls	East C	8 p.m. ET
Portland Trail Blazers	Houston Rockets	West A	8 p.m. ET
Golden State Warriors	New Orleans Pelicans	West C	8 p.m. ET
Dallas Mavericks	Denver Nuggets	West C	10 p.m. ET
Sacramento Kings	Los Angeles Clippers	West A	10:30 p.m. ET

Tuesday, November 26

AWAY	HOME	GROUP	TIME
Chicago Bulls	Washington Wizards	East C	7 p.m. ET
Milwaukee Bucks	Miami Heat	East B	7:30 p.m. ET
Houston Rockets	Minnesota Timberwolves	West A	8 p.m. ET
San Antonio Spurs	Utah Jazz	West B	9 p.m. ET
Los Angeles Lakers	Phoenix Suns	West B	10 p.m. ET

Friday, November 29

AWAY	HOME	GROUP	TIME
New York Knicks	Charlotte Hornets	East A	12 p.m. ET
Cleveland Cavaliers	Atlanta Hawks	East C	2:30 p.m. ET
New Orleans Pelicans	Memphis Grizzlies	West C	5 p.m. ET
Los Angeles Clippers	Minnesota Timberwolves	West A	7:30 p.m. ET
Orlando Magic	Brooklyn Nets	East A	7:30 p.m. ET
Detroit Pistons	Indiana Pacers	East B	8 p.m. ET
Toronto Raptors	Miami Heat	East B	8 p.m. ET
Boston Celtics	Chicago Bulls	East C	8 p.m. ET
Sacramento Kings	Portland Trail Blazers	West A	10 p.m. ET
Oklahoma City Thunder	Los Angeles Lakers	West B	10 p.m. ET

Tuesday, December 3

AWAY	HOME	GROUP	TIME
Philadelphia 76ers	Charlotte Hornets	East A	7 p.m. ET
Washington Wizards	Cleveland Cavaliers	East C	7 p.m. ET
Milwaukee Bucks	Detroit Pistons	East B	7 p.m. ET
Indiana Pacers	Toronto Raptors	East B	7:30 p.m. ET
Orlando Magic	New York Knicks	East A	7:30 p.m. ET
Utah Jazz	Oklahoma City Thunder	West B	8 p.m. ET
Memphis Grizzlies	Dallas Mavericks	West C	8:30 p.m. ET
San Antonio Spurs	Phoenix Suns	West B	9 p.m. ET
Houston Rockets	Sacramento Kings	West A	10 p.m. ET
Golden State Warriors	Denver Nuggets	West C	10 p.m. ET
Portland Trail Blazers	Los Angeles Clippers	West A	10:30 p.m. ET

NBA Cup Playoff Schedule

ROUND	DATE
Quarterfinals	Tuesday, December 10
Quarterfinals	Wednesday, December 11
Semifinals	Saturday, December 14
Championship	Tuesday, December 17

NBA Cup Format

The Emirates NBA Cup is separated into a group stage and an elimination stage.

In the group stage, all teams are separated into six different groups, divided by conferences. So there are five teams in the East A group, five teams in the West A group, so on and so forth. Every team will play four games designated as Group Stage Games; each of those games will feature two teams in the same group playing each other.

After those four games are played by each team, the winner of each group (determined by the team with the best record in group play, not overall) will move onto the elimination round. This will unfold in a format similar to the NBA playoffs. There will be a quarterfinals and semifinals before one team from each conference meets in the NBA Cup finals.

Tie-breakers

With four games played, there is a pretty good chance a pair of teams finishes tied atop their group in the win-loss column. If that is the case, the winner of the group is determined by the following tie-breaking procedures, listed in order of priority.

• Point differential in the Group Stage
• Total points scored in the Group Stage
• Regular season record from the 2023-24 NBA regular season
• Random drawing (if two or more teams are still tied following the previous tiebreakers)

In the elimination round, no team can tie and the game will be played until there is a winner, as is the case with regular NBA games.