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2025 NBA Cup

2025 NBA Cup
Tournament information
Location
  • Local NBA cities (group stage and quarterfinals)
  • T-Mobile Arena (semifinals and championship game)
DateOctober 31 – December 16, 2025
Venue(s)
  • Local NBA arenas (group stage and quarterfinals)
  • T-Mobile Arena (semifinals and championship game)
Teams30
PurseSee prize money
← 2024

The 2025 NBA Cup (known as the Emirates NBA Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an upcoming multi-stage basketball tournament that will be played during the 2025–26 NBA season. It will be the third edition of the NBA Cup. All 30 teams participate, each playing four regular season games that count towards the tournament's group stage standings. All games in the knockout round, except for the championship game, also count towards the regular season standings. The tournament's semifinals and championship game will be played at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip. The Milwaukee Bucks are the defending champions.

Format

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Main article: NBA Cup § Format

The tournament's format was similar to in-season, multi-stage tournaments in European soccer.[1]

In the group stage, each conference was divided into three groups with five teams each, for a total of six groups. Regular season games played on Tuesdays and Fridays between October 12 and November 28 counted in the regular season standings and the NBA Cup standings.[2] Each team played one game against each of the other teams in its group, for a total of four games (two at home and two on the road).[1]

If two or more teams in a group had equal records upon completion of group play, the following tiebreakers were applied in this order:[1]

  1. Head-to-head record in the group stage
  2. Point differential in the group stage (excluding overtime)[3]
  3. Total points scored in the group stage (excluding overtime)
  4. Regular season record from the 2024–25 regular season
  5. Random drawing

Note: Overtime scoring did not count towards the point differential and total points tiebreakers in the Emirates NBA Cup. A team's point differential was "0" in Group Play games that went to overtime, and a team's total points scored excluded points scored in overtime.

A photo of the arena at day
T-Mobile Arena in 2020

Each group's winner then advanced to the knockout stage, as did one wild card from each conference—the group runner-up with the best group stage record. The knockout stage was a single-elimination tournament. Quarterfinal games were played in local NBA markets on December 9 and 10, with the teams with the top two group stage records in each conference hosting, and the best team in group-play games would host the wild-card team. The semifinals were played on December 13, and the championship on December 16. The final two rounds were played at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip.[1]

Quarterfinal and semifinal games counted as regular season games, affecting teams' positions in league standings, but the championship game did not. Statistics from the championship game were also not counted in regular season totals.[1]

To balance the regular season, the teams that did not make the knockout stage played two additional consolation games on December 11 or 12 and 14 or 15, against each other in the same conference, while teams that were eliminated in the quarterfinals played one additional consolation game against each other (from the same conference) on December 14 or 15.[1]

While the knockout stage was played, the 22 teams that did not qualify for the knockout stage each played two additional regular season games, one home and one away, to complete each team's 82 game regular season schedule. Among these 22 total matchups, 20 are intra-conference games, with an attempt by the league to schedule as many pairs of teams that were originally scheduled to only play each other three times during the regular season. The other two matchups are interconference games, as there is an odd number of teams in each conference (11). These two interconference matchups featured four of the six teams that finished last in their respective group.[1]

Prize money

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Players on teams advancing to the knockout stage received prize money as follows:[4]

  • Players on teams that lose in the quarterfinals: $51,497 each
  • Players on teams that lose in the semifinals: $102,994 each
  • Players on the tournament runner-up team: $205,988 each
  • Players on the tournament championship team: $514,971 each

Draw

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Pots

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Teams were allocated into five pots per conference based on the 2024–25 regular season standings. Pot 1 contained the teams with the top three regular season records in each conference, while Pot 2 contained the teams with the fourth- to sixth-best records and so forth, concluding with Pot 5, which contained the teams with the bottom three (thirteenth through fifteenth) records.[1][5]

Draw results

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The groups were revealed on July 9, 2025.[6]

Eastern Conference
                 Group A                                   Group B                                   Group C                 
Cleveland Cavaliers (1)
Indiana Pacers (4)
Atlanta Hawks (8)
Toronto Raptors (11)
Washington Wizards (15) 		Boston Celtics (2)
Detroit Pistons (6)
Orlando Magic (7)
Brooklyn Nets (12)
Philadelphia 76ers (13) 		New York Knicks (3)
Milwaukee Bucks (5)
Chicago Bulls (9)
Miami Heat (10)
Charlotte Hornets (14)
Western Conference
                 Group A                                   Group B                                   Group C                 
Oklahoma City Thunder (1)
Minnesota Timberwolves (6)
Sacramento Kings (9)
Phoenix Suns (11)
Utah Jazz (15) 		Los Angeles Lakers (3)
Los Angeles Clippers (5)
Memphis Grizzlies (8)
Dallas Mavericks (10)
New Orleans Pelicans (14) 		Houston Rockets (2)
Denver Nuggets (4)
Golden State Warriors (7)
Portland Trail Blazers (12)
San Antonio Spurs (13)

Group stage

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East group A

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Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 Cleveland Cavaliers 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage
2 Indiana Pacers 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible knockout stage based on ranking
3 Atlanta Hawks 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Toronto Raptors 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Washington Wizards 0 0 0 0 0 0
First game(s) will be played: October 31, 2025. Source: NBA
Games
Note: Times are Eastern Time (UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.

East group B

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Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 Boston Celtics 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage
2 Detroit Pistons 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible knockout stage based on ranking
3 Orlando Magic 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Brooklyn Nets 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Philadelphia 76ers 0 0 0 0 0 0
First game(s) will be played: October 31, 2025. Source: NBA
Games
Note: Times are Eastern Time (UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.

East group C

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Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 New York Knicks 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage
2 Milwaukee Bucks 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible knockout stage based on ranking
3 Chicago Bulls 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Miami Heat 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Charlotte Hornets 0 0 0 0 0 0
First game(s) will be played: October 31, 2025. Source: NBA
Games
Note: Times are Eastern Time (UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.

West group A

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Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 Oklahoma City Thunder 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage
2 Minnesota Timberwolves 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible knockout stage based on ranking
3 Sacramento Kings 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Phoenix Suns 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Utah Jazz 0 0 0 0 0 0
First game(s) will be played: October 31, 2025. Source: NBA
Games
Note: Times are Eastern Time (UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.

West group B

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Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 Los Angeles Lakers 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage
2 Los Angeles Clippers 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible knockout stage based on ranking
3 Memphis Grizzlies 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Dallas Mavericks 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 New Orleans Pelicans 0 0 0 0 0 0
First game(s) will be played: October 31, 2025. Source: NBA
Games
Note: Times are Eastern Time (UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.

West group C

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Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 Houston Rockets 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage
2 Denver Nuggets 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible knockout stage based on ranking
3 Golden State Warriors 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Portland Trail Blazers 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 San Antonio Spurs 0 0 0 0 0 0
First game(s) will be played: October 31, 2025. Source: NBA
Games
Note: Times are Eastern Time (UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.

Ranking of second-placed teams

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Eastern Conference

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Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 Second place East Group A 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage
2 Second place East Group B 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Second place East Group C 0 0 0 0 0 0
First game(s) will be played: October 31, 2025. Source: [citation needed]

Western Conference

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Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 Second place West Group A 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to knockout stage
2 Second place West Group B 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Second place West Group C 0 0 0 0 0 0
First game(s) will be played: October 31, 2025. Source: [citation needed]

Media coverage

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With games primarily on Friday evenings, Prime Video will air the majority of group play games. A limited number of Tuesday night games will air on NBC or Peacock, while a limited number of Wednesday night games will air on ESPN.[7] All knockout round games, including the final, will air on Prime Video.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Emirates NBA Cup: Rules, format and how it works". NBA.com. July 11, 2024. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  2. ^ "Emirates NBA Cup: Key dates & schedule". NBA.com. August 14, 2025. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
  3. ^ Reynolds, Tim (July 17, 2024). "NBA moves a big step closer to finalizing new 11-year media rights deals". AP News. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  4. ^ East, Tony (November 6, 2024). "NBA Cup Prize Money Has Varying Appeal To NBA Players: 'A Nice Bonus'". forbes.com. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
  5. ^ Bontemps, Tim (July 8, 2023). "NBA officially unveils format, groups for new in-season tournament". ESPN. Archived from the original on July 9, 2023. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  6. ^ "2025 NBA Cup Group Draw Results". NBA.com. July 9, 2025. Retrieved August 18, 2025.
  7. ^ Martin, Brian (August 12, 2025). "2025-26 Opening Night, Christmas Day and MLK Day schedules unveiled". National Basketball Association. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  8. ^ "Amazon Prime Video and the NBA Announce Landmark 11-Year Global Media Rights Agreement Beginning in 2025". Amazon MGM Studios (Press release). July 24, 2024.
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