Now things get serious.
We are through the group play stage of the 2024 NBA Cup, and it is down to eight teams in the knockout round. Win the first game, and teams get a mid-season trip to Las Vegas to play for the $514,971 prize money for each player on the NBA Cup championship team.
Let’s break it all down.
What’s the NBA Cup 2024 format?
It started with each of the 30 NBA teams drawn into six groups of five teams each (three East and three West). Teams played everyone else in their group once (4 games, which counted as NBA Cup and regular season NBA games). Now, the six group winners plus a wild card from each conference — determined by head-to-head record and point differential — have entered the eight-team knockout round bracket (East vs. East, West vs. West until the NBA Cup Finals). Every game from here on out is single-elimination.
The four winners of the quarterfinals games head to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup semifinals on Dec. 14 and the championship game on Dec. 17.
NBA Cup Quarterfinals Schedule
Tuesday, Dec. 10
Orlando at Milwaukee (7 pm ET, TNT)
Dallas at Oklahoma City (9:30 ET, TNT)
Wednesday, Dec. 11
Atlanta at New York (7 pm ET, ESPN)
Golden State at Houston (9:30 ET, TNT)
NBA Cup Quarterfinals Analysis
Orlando at Milwaukee
The Bucks come in as one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now, having won 8-of-10 (albeit against a soft schedule), and Giannis Antetokounmpo is playing at an MVP level, averaging 32.5 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 6.2 assists a game. Orlando has the third-best defense in the NBA and the personnel to slow the Bucks, but can it score enough points to win — both of the team’s leading scorers and shot creators, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, are out with torn oblique muscles. Without them, this is a very tough ask for the Magic on the road.
Dallas at Oklahoma City
This is the best game of the NBA Cup quarterfinals and a possible Western Conference Finals preview. The host Thunder have looked like the best team in the NBA this season with a stifling defense and MVP candidate Shae Gilgeous-Alexander running the offense. OKC has looked like a complete team with Isaiah Hartenstein back from injury and providing rim protection and a physical presence in the paint.
Dallas (16-8) made it to the NBA Finals a season ago and upgraded their shooting in the offseason with Klay Thompson (although the play of Naji Marshall on the wing could be the key to this game). Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving lead the league’s fourth-best offense, but they are also eighth in defense with a quality pair of big men in the middle, Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II.
Atlanta at New York
The Knicks come into the game with the top-ranked offense in the NBA behind Jalen Brunson (a fringe MVP candidate this season) and their big offseason acquisition Karl-Anthony Towns — but the Knicks’ defense keeps their opponents in games. Atlanta has had a pretty pedestrian season overall (13-12) but has risen to the moment in NBA Cup games beating the top two teams in the East (Boston and Cleveland) and they bring Trae Young to Madison Square Garden, where he has had some huge games and been public enemy No. 1 with Knicks fans. This should be entertaining.
Golden State at Houston
A showdown of the old guard against one of the NBA’s up-and-coming teams — although the Warriors have a 15-game win streak against the Rockets, including two this season (both close games). Golden State is off to a surprising 14-9 start behind a top-five defense anchored by Draymond Green and enough Stephen Curry to power the offense. For the Warriors, this game could swing on whether it’s a good Jonathan Kuminga game or an average (or worse) one. Houston is winning thanks to an elite defense — they have a deep pool of athletes who pressure and swarm ball handlers, then use those turnovers and awkward shots to get out and run in transition. Houston has veteran leaders in Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks, but Alperen Sengun’s play puts them over the top.
NBA Cup 2024 odds
To win the NBA Cup (via our partners at Bet MGM:
New York +300
Oklahoma City +310
Milwaukee +450
Houston +600
Dallas +700
Golden State +700
Atlanta +2000
Orlando +2500
Who won the 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament?
We will have a new champion as it was LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers who won the 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament (before it was officially branded as the NBA Cup). The Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers handily in the Finals, but neither team advanced out of group play in the NBA Cup this season.
