Miami Heat Players Chasing Six-Figure Payday In NBA Cup

Jake Elman | Nov 14, 2024

Nov 4, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) celebrates with Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) after scoring against the Sacramento Kings during the fourth quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

If calling yourself an NBA Cup champion wasn’t enough to motivate Miami Heat players, how does half a million dollars sound?

Although the NBA Cup (formerly the In-Season Tournament) has its detractors, the league is trying to make the event stick. 

What better way to do so than by financially motivating players to give their all?

According to USA Today, players on the winning NBA Cup team earn nearly $515,000. That’s up from the $500,000 players on the Los Angeles Lakers netted in last season’s tournament.

The rest of the 2024 NBA Cup prize money is as follows:

• Players on losing team in championship game: $205,988
• Players on losing semifinals teams: $102,994
• Players on losing quarterfinals teams: $51,497

Every player on the roster, including those on two-way contracts, earns prize money if their team advances far enough in the NBA Cup. However, the Heat’s three two-way players—Dru Smith, Josh Christopher, and Keshad Johnson—only get half-shares in that scenario.

Still, a $257,000 bonus sounds pretty good to us when you’re earning slightly over $578,000 for the season.

Miami finished third in East Group B after splitting its four In-Season Tournament games last season. The Heat automatically advance to the quarterfinals if they win their group. Alternatively, they can move on as a wild card if they have the best record of the non-group champions. 

The Heat opened the NBA Cup with a 123-121 overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night. Miami (4-6) returns to the court against the Indiana Pacers (5-6) on Friday night in the second of four NBA Cup games.

Tyler Herro and the Heat complete the NBA Cup with home games against the Milwaukee Bucks (Nov. 26) and Toronto Raptors (Nov. 29).

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Jake Elman works as a contributing writer to Miami Heat on SI. He can be reached at jakeelman97@gmail.com or follow him on X @JakeElman97.