The NBA Cup is back for Year 2, and the group stage schedule concludes Tuesday night with a busy slate of 11 games — eight of which have some bearing on who will reach the knockout stage. The biggest matchups will be Bucks vs. Pistons and Knicks vs. Magic in the East and Suns vs. Spurs and Thunder vs. Jazz in the West. Five spots remain open in the eight-team knockout phase of the competition, and there are dozens of different clinching scenarios on Tuesday.
The Rockets, Warriors and Hawks were the first three teams to clinch their spots in the knockout round.
The NBA Cup format has seen all 30 teams participate, and they’ve been broken into six five-team groups for round-robin group play. Those games have taken place on Tuesdays and Fridays for the last three weeks and feature unique NBA Cup courts. There are three groups of Eastern Conference Teams and three groups of Western Conference teams.
The winners of each group (based on round-robin record and point differential if a tiebreaker is needed), plus one wild card from each conference (best record of non-group winner), will advance to the knockout stage, where the tournament becomes single-elimination all the way through the semifinals and final in Las Vegas.
Even skeptics of the NBA’s inaugural event (called the NBA In-Season Tournament in 2023) had to be impressed with the level of product the players and teams gave us last year. Everyone seemed genuinely invested and put their best foot forward to win the title and the $500,000-per-player prize. The Lakers claimed the crown. Tyrese Haliburton broke out as a superstar for the Pacers.
Below is the schedule for the remaining 2024 NBA Cup games. Group play ends Tuesday night, and the knockout round starts Dec. 10 and culminates with the title game on Dec. 17 in Las Vegas.
2024 NBA Cup schedule
Most NBA Cup games are streaming locally on fubo (Try for free).
Group play schedule
All times Eastern
Tuesday, Dec. 3
- Hornets vs. 76ers, 7 p.m.
- Cavaliers vs. Wizards, 7 p.m.
- Pistons vs. Bucks, 7 p.m.
- Knicks vs. Magic, 7:30 p.m.
- Raptors vs. Pacers, 7:30 p.m.
- Thunder vs. Jazz, 8 p.m.
- Mavericks vs. Grizzlies, 8:30 p.m.
- Suns vs. Spurs, 9 p.m.
- Nuggets vs. Warriors, 10 p.m.
- Kings vs. Rockets, 10 p.m.
- Clippers vs. Trail Blazers, 10:30 p.m.
2024 NBA Cup knockout schedule, bracket
The bracket will be determined after games on Dec. 3. Eight teams will make the knockout rounds: four East teams and four West teams. They will play the quarterfinals on Dec. 10 and 11 at the home courts of the higher seeds. The semifinals (Dec. 14) and finals (Dec. 17) will take place in Las Vegas.
Quarterfinals
All times Eastern
Tuesday, Dec. 10
- TBD vs. TBD, 7 or 7:30 p.m. (TNT, Max, TruTV)
- TBD vs. TBD, 9:30 or 10 p.m. (TNT, Max, TruTV)
Wednesday, Dec. 11
- TBD vs. TBD, 7 or 7:30 p.m. (TNT, Max, TruTV)
- TBD vs. TBD, 9:30 or 10 p.m. (TNT, Max, TruTV)
Semifinals
Saturday, Dec. 14
- TBD vs. TBD, 4:30 p.m. (TNT, Max, TruTV)
- TBD vs. TBD, 8:30 p.m. (ABC/fubo)
Finals
Tuesday, Dec. 17
- TBD vs. TBD, 8:30 p.m. (ABC/fubo)
2024 NBA Cup groups
2024 NBA Cup odds
Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook as of Dec. 3. Fans can take action on the NBA Cup with the latest FanDuel promo code.
- Magic: +500
- Thunder: +500
- Knicks: +550
- Warriors: +600
- Rockets: +750
- Mavericks: +900
- Bucks: +900
- Celtics: +1500
- Suns: +1600
- Hawks: +2000
