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 12Dec. 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 groupsEast: Group AAtlanta HawksCleveland CavaliersIndiana PacersToronto RaptorsWashington WizardsEast: Group BBoston CelticsBrooklyn NetsDetroit PistonsOrlando MagicPhiladelphia 76ersEast: Group CCharlotte HornetsChicago BullsMiami HeatMilwaukee BucksNew York KnicksWest: Group AMinnesota TimberwolvesOklahoma City ThunderPhoenix SunsSacramento KingsUtah JazzWest: Group BDallas MavericksLA ClippersLos Angeles LakersMemphis GrizzliesNew Orleans PelicansWest: Group CDenver NuggetsGolden State WarriorsHouston RocketsPortland Trail BlazersSan Antonio SpursNBA 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: $514,790Reach championship game: $205,988Reach semifinal game: $102,994Reach 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 scheduleGroup play start date: Oct. 31Group play end date: Nov. 28Quarterfinals: Dec. 9-10Semifinals: Dec. 13Championship: 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. 31MatchupGroupTime (ET)National TV/ResultHawks vs. PacersEast Group A7 p.m.—Celtics vs. 76ersEast Group B7 p.m.Amazon Prime VideoRaptors vs. CavaliersEast Group A7:30 p.m.—Knicks vs. BullsEast Group C8 p.m.—Lakers vs. GrizzliesWest Group B9:30 p.m.Amazon Prime VideoJazz vs. SunsWest Group A10 p.m.—Nuggets vs. Trail BlazersWest Group C10 p.m.—Pelicans vs. ClippersWest Group B10:30 p.m.—Friday, Nov. 7MatchupGroupTime (ET)National TV/ResultCeltics vs. MagicEast Group B7 p.m.—Cavaliers vs. WizardsEast Group A7 p.m.—Raptors vs. HawksEast Group A7:30 p.m.—Pistons vs. NetsEast Group B7:30 p.m.—Rockets vs. SpursWest Group C7:30 p.m.Amazon Prime VideoHornets vs. HeatEast Group C8 p.m.—Mavericks vs. GrizzliesWest Group B8 p.m.—Bulls vs. BucksEast Group C8 p.m.—Jazz vs. TimberwolvesWest Group A8 p.m.—Warriors vs. NuggetsWest Group C10 p.m.Amazon Prime VideoThunder vs. KingsWest Group A10 p.m.—Friday, Nov. 14MatchupGroupTime (ET)National TV/ResultHeat vs. KnicksEast Group C7 p.m.Amazon Prime VideoNets vs. MagicEast Group B7 p.m.—76ers vs. PistonsEast Group B7:30 p.m.—Trail Blazers vs. RocketsWest Group C8 p.m.—Hornets vs. BucksEast Group C8 p.m.—Kings vs. TimberwolvesWest Group A8 p.m.—Lakers vs. PelicansWest Group B8 p.m.—Clippers vs. MavericksWest Group B8:30 p.m.—Warriors vs. SpursWest Group C9:30 p.m.Amazon Prime VideoFriday, Nov. 21MatchupGroupTime (ET)National TV/ResultPacers vs. CavaliersEast Group A7 p.m.Amazon Prime VideoNets vs. CelticsEast Group B7:30 p.m.—Wizards vs. RaptorsEast Group A7:30 p.m.—Heat vs. BullsEast Group C8 p.m.—Pelicans vs. MavericksWest Group B8:30 p.m.—Timberwolves vs. SunsWest Group A9 p.m.—Nuggets vs. RocketsWest Group C9:30 p.m.Amazon Prime VideoThunder vs. JazzWest Group A10 p.m.—Trail Blazers vs. WarriorsWest Group C10 p.m.—Tuesday, Nov. 25MatchupGroupTime (ET)National TV/ResultHawks vs. WizardsEast Group A7 p.m.—Magic vs. 76ersEast Group B8 p.m.NBC, PeacockClippers vs. LakersWest Group B11 p.m.NBC, Peacock

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Wednesday, Nov. 26MatchupGroupTime (ET)National TV/ResultPistons vs. CelticsEast Group B5 p.m.ESPNKnicks vs. HornetsEast Group C7 p.m.—Bucks vs. HeatEast Group C7:30 p.m.—Pacers vs. RaptorsEast Group A7:30 p.m.—Timberwolves vs. ThunderWest Group A7:30 p.m.ESPNGrizzlies vs. PelicansWest Group B8 p.m.—Rockets vs. WarriorsWest Group C10 p.m.ESPNSpurs vs. Trail BlazersWest Group C10 p.m.—Suns vs. KingsWest Group A10 p.m.—

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Friday, Nov. 28MatchupGroupTime (ET)National TV/ResultCavaliers vs. HawksEast Group A7:30 p.m.—76ers vs. NetsEast Group B7:30 p.m.—Bulls vs. HornetsEast Group C7:30 p.m.—Magic vs. PistonsEast Group B7:30 p.m.—Wizards vs. PacersEast Group A7:30 p.m.—Bucks vs. KnicksEast Group C7:30 p.m.Amazon Prime VideoSuns vs. ThunderWest Group A9:30 p.m.—Spurs vs. NuggetsWest Group C9:30 p.m.—Kings vs. JazzWest Group A9:30 p.m.—Mavericks vs. LakersWest Group B10 p.m.Amazon Prime VideoGrizzlies vs. ClippersWest Group B10 p.m.—

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NBA Cup winnersYearChampionRunner-upMVP2023LakersPacersLeBron James2024BucksThunderGiannis Antetokounmpo