Wolves set to begin NBA Cup. How does the in-season tournament work?

Minnesota opens the group stage Tuesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards (5) warms up before the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center in Portland on Nov. 12, 2024. / Soobum Im-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Timberwolves are just about to begin the NBA Cup, the league's annual in-season tournament that began last season, with Tuesday night's group-play game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center in Portland.

With the in-season tournament being in just its second season, a little refresher on how it works could be in order.

Here's a look at how it works:

For starters, there are two stages: group play and the knockout rounds. For group play, which began Tuesday night, teams are broken into groups of five within their conference. The Wolves — for example — are in West Group A.

West Group A

• Minnesota Timberwolves
• Portland Trail Blazers
• Los Angeles Clippers
• Sacramento Kings
• Houston Rockets

The groups are determined by random drawing based on team record from the previous season. Each team will play the other four teams in their group once during the group stage, and a team's record in group play will determine whether or not it advances to the knockout rounds. Eight teams advance to the knockout rounds — the six winners of their individual groups and two wild-card teams. The wild cards are the best team from each conference that didn't win their group.

If multiple teams are tied within a group, or for a wild-card spot, it will go to tiebreakers. In order, the tiebreakers are head-to-head record in group play, point differential in group play, total points scored in group play, record from the 2023-24 season, and in the nearly impossible situation a winner isn't determined after all that, it goes to a random drawing.

The eight teams remaining advance to the knockout rounds, a single-elimination-style bracket. It starts with quarterfinals, where the teams with the two best records in each conference will host games (tiebreaker protocol remains the same). The team with the best record in each conference hosts their respective wild-card team. Winners advance to the semis.

The semifinals take place at a neutral-site location on Dec. 14, and the winners meet for the championship on Dec. 17.

All games from the in-season tournament count as regular-season games, with the exception of the championship game. The 22 teams that do not advance to the knockout rounds will play two regular-season games while the in-season tournament carries on. The losing teams from the quarterfinals from each conference will play each other to make up their additional regular-season game, while a formulaic approach is used to determine games for the other teams.

Find the key dates and the Timberwolves' schedule for the in-season tournament below:

NBA Cup schedule

Group stage

• Tuesday, Nov. 12 (Timberwolves at Trail Blazers, 9 p.m.)
• Friday, Nov. 15 (Timberwolves at Kings, 9 p.m.)
• Tuesday, Nov. 19
• Friday, Nov. 22
• Tuesday, Nov. 26 (Timberwolves vs. Rockets, 7 p.m.)
• Friday, Nov. 29 (Timberwolves vs. Clippers, 6:30 p.m.)

Knockout rounds

• Tuesday, Dec. 10 (quarterfinals)
• Wednesday, Dec. 11 (quarterfinals)
• Saturday, Dec. 14 (semifinals)
• Tuesday, Dec. 17 (championship)