What is the in-season tournament?

The in-season tournament is the NBA’s answer to a soccer tournament such as the FA Cup, which runs concurrently with Premier League play in England. While all 30 teams will still compete to claim the NBA title at the end of the postseason in June, they also will have the opportunity to participate in the in-season tournament in November and December, shortly after the season opens in October. Importantly, the in-season tournament will use existing regular season games to help crown a champion rather than adding a large volume of additional designated cup games to each team’s schedule. However, the two teams that advance to the in-season tournament championship will play an 83rd game.

What is the format for the in-season tournament?

Like many international tournaments, including the FIBA World Cup and the basketball competition at the Olympics, the NBA’s in-season tournament will feature a group stage and a knockout stage. While the NBA’s full regular season schedule won’t be announced until August, the league held a drawing Saturday to place its 30 teams in six groups of five teams for the in-season tournament. Three of the groups are composed of Eastern Conference teams, and the other three are composed of Western Conference teams. The group are as follows: To help prevent against an imbalance of talent, the NBA divvied up each conference’s teams into five “pots” based on their 2022-23 regular season record before conducting the draw. For example, the Bucks and Celtics were placed in separate pots because they finished with the East’s top records last season. The five pots were split by conference seeding: 1-3 went into pot 1; 4-6 into pot 2; 7-9 into pot 3; 10-12 in pot 4; and 13-15 in pot 5. Each five-team group included one team from each pot.

How will the tournament’s group stage work?

Each team will play one group stage game against each of the other four teams in its group. These games will be held on Tuesdays and Fridays in November, starting Nov. 3, and they will be part of the regular season schedule. No games will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7, because it is Election Day. To help distinguish tournament games from typical regular season games, teams could use special jerseys or court designs. Because the in-season tournament is being held during the regular season, it’s possible some group stage games will be part of a back-to-back. For example, it’s possible the Bucks could play a group stage game on a Tuesday and a typical regular season game on a Wednesday.

How will the tournament’s knockout round work?

Once all group play games are held, the team with the best record in each of the six groups will advance to the knockout stage. Additionally, a wild-card team from each conference will advance to form an eight-team quarterfinal bracket. The wild cards will be determined by which team from each conference had the best record in group play games among second-place group finishers. The NBA will hold single-elimination quarterfinal games Dec. 4 and Dec. 5. All knockout round games will be against conference opponents until the championship game. Quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinals, while losers will play each other in consolation games Dec. 8. Meanwhile, the 22 teams that don’t advance to the quarterfinals will play normal regular season games Dec. 6 and Dec. 8 to ensure they play a standard 82-game schedule.

When and where will the semifinals and championship be held?

Once the in-season tournament field is whittled to four teams, the semifinals and championship game will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The semifinals will be held Dec. 7, and the championship will be Dec. 9. Two East teams will face off in one semifinal, and two West teams will square off in the other, guaranteeing an East-vs.-West matchup in the championship game. The NBA’s regular season will resume Dec. 11, two weeks before its traditional Christmas Day showcase.

What do the winners get?

The winning team will claim the NBA Cup, a gold trophy. Each player on the winning team will earn a $500,000 bonus, and each player on the second-place team will earn $200,000. Players whose teams lost in the semifinals will receive $100,000, and players whose teams lost in the quarterfinals will receive $50,000. The NBA also will announce an in-season tournament MVP and an all-tournament team.

How does this format differ from other cup-style tournaments?

The NBA’s in-season tournament is all-inclusive, so teams don’t need to do anything to qualify. Additionally, the in-season tournament only has NBA teams, rather than mixing teams from multiple countries or different levels of competition within the same country. Given time constraints, the group stage will not feature home-and-home sets of games between the same opponents.

Will the stats from the in-season tournament count?

Because the in-season tournament games are regular season games, all stats from tournament games will be counted like usual, and the game results will count to each team’s final regular season record. The exception is the championship game; that contest will represent an 83rd game for the teams that qualify. Stats for the championship game will not count toward a player’s end-of-season stats, and the championship game results will not be included in each team’s final regular season record.

Have players and teams embraced this new tournament concept?

That remains to be seen. The NBA hopes the in-season tournament will become a regular part of its calendar that can help generate significant interest in November and December. The league consulted with players and general managers to create what Wasch called a “minimally disruptive” format that doesn’t overburden teams with a significant number of new games, excessive amounts of extra travel or lengthy stretches without games. “Not everyone is going to buy in right away,” said Joe Dumars, the NBA’s vice president of basketball operations. “That can’t be the goal. These things take time. As time goes on, you can build this up and people can really get into it.”

How will the NBA determine whether the in-season tournament is a success?

Wasch said the in-season tournament will be evaluated on five factors: television viewership, attendance, social media sentiment, fan feedback and player and team feedback. While the league expects to make tweaks to the in-season tournament based on how it plays out, the event is viewed as a long-term addition to the calendar rather than a short-term experiment.

What to know about the new NBA in-season tournament

By Ben Golliver

July 8, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. EDT

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's dream of an in-season tournament will become a reality this season. (John Minchillo/AP)

7 min

LAS VEGAS — The 2023-24 season will feature an elaborate in-season tournament that will reward the winning team with millions of dollars in prize money and a golden cup trophy, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Saturday.

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For years, Silver and the league office have brainstormed the possibility of an in-season tournament modeled after international soccer events that could add excitement during the 82-game regular season schedule and create additional television opportunities for the league’s media partners.

Following the successful implementation of a play-in tournament to help determine playoff seedings in 2021, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association agreed to add an in-season tournament to the new collective bargaining agreement, which went into effect July 1 and runs through the 2029-30 season. The in-season tournament is the most dramatic change to the schedule in decades and will include all 30 teams each year.

Victor Wembanyama’s NBA debut left a packed house wanting more

“The hope would be that this becomes a real tent pole in our season and drives significant value for the league in future years,” said Evan Wasch, the NBA’s vice president of strategy and analytics.

Here’s what you need to know about the new event:

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