NBA just announced that they will be an In-Season Tournament this season. The tournament is structured similar to the FIBA Tournament where there will be a group competition and knockout rounds. The In-Season Tournament will start on Friday, Nov. 3 in NBA team markets and the Semifinals (Thursday, Dec. 7) and Championship (Saturday, Dec. 9) will be held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“We are excited to introduce the NBA In-Season Tournament as an opportunity to further enhance and innovate around our season structure,” said Joe Dumars, NBA Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations. “With the addition of this new marquee event on the NBA calendar, we are focused on providing players and teams with another competition to win, engaging fans in a different way and driving further interest in the early portion of the regular-season schedule.”
NBA also announced the groupings for the In-Season Tournament, there will be 3 Group for each conference that will have 5 teams for each groupings. NBA said that groupings are randomly drawn within their conference based on win-loss records from the 2022-23 regular season.
Eastern Conference
- East A: Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons
- East B: Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets
- East C: Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic
Western Conference
- West A: Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers
- West B: Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets
- West C: Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs
In the “Group Play“, each team will play four designated Group Play games – one game against each opponent in its group, with two games at home and two on the road – on “Tournament Nights,” which will take place every Tuesday and Friday from Nov. 3-28 (with the exception of Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 7, when no games will be played).
The two teams with the best record in their respective groups will advance the the “Knockout Rounds” with the addition of two wild cards (the team from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group). The Knockout Rounds will consist of single-elimination games in the Quarterfinals (played in NBA team markets on Monday, Dec. 4 and Tuesday, Dec. 5) and Semifinals and Championship (played in Las Vegas on Dec. 7 and Dec. 9, respectively). The Knockout teams will compete for a prize pool and the new In-Season Tournament trophy, the NBA Cup.
Below is the In-Season Tournament prize pool will be allocated to the players on the teams that participate in the Knockout Rounds as follows:
- Players on winning team of Championship: $500,000 each
- Players on losing team of Championship: $200,000 each
- Players on losing team of Semifinals: $100,000 each
- Players on losing team of Quarterfinals: $50,000 each
At the end of the In-Season Tournament, there will be the Most Valuable Player of the In-Season Tournament and the All-Tournament Team. Selection will be based on the players’ performance in both Group Play and the Knockout Rounds.
The In-Season Tournament will count toward the regular-season standings except the Championship. Each team will continue to play 82 regular-season games in the 2023-24 season, including those games that are part of Group Play and the Knockout Rounds.
Here’s the video that NBA released explaining the In-Season Tournament;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT1Vk286308
