On Friday night, the first round of group play began in the fourth annual NBA Cup. A lot of great games were played, and the best part of it all is that there are still six more nights like this before we move on to the next stage.
But in order for us to enjoy the rest of the festivities, here are all the rules you absolutely need to know in an event that's quickly becoming a mainstay in the NBA calendar.
How the NBA Cup group stage works
Friday was the first of seven nights of group play — nights on which all games played count toward the NBA Cup group standings. Remember, there are five teams in each group, and everyone in the group plays the other teams once for a total of four group-stage games.
The team with the best record from each group automatically advances to the knockout rounds. From there, the team with the best record among non-group winners in each conference claims the lone wild card spot. Six groups and two wildcard spots (one for the East, one for the West) gives you eight teams total in the knockout rounds.
In the event that we get any ties, here is how the league goes about sorting out these situations (in order): head-to-head-play, point differential in group play, total points scored in group play, record from 2025-26 NBA season and random draw (highly unlikely that this ever goes down).
If two teams go into overtime during a group-stage game, what they score during overtime does not count toward their point differential for tiebreaker purposes. So, if a game goes to overtime, both team's point differential for that game will be considered a "0."
The biggest change for group play this year is that most games are going to be played on Friday nights, instead of a mixture of Fridays and Tuesdays. This year, five Cup nights take place on Fridays, one takes place on Tuesday and one on Wednesday.
How the NBA Cup knockout rounds work
This is where the event goes from a soccer tournament to something more akin to March Madness. Eight teams, three rounds, one bracket-style competition. The four Eastern Conference teams will play each other until one team is left standing. Ditto with the four teams out West. Here are the dates for each round:
- Quarterfinals: December 4th and 5th
- Semifinals: December 7th and 8th
- Finals: December 11th
The NBA Cup championship will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse (home of the Butler Bulldogs) in Indianapolis, Ind. Each round of the knockout rounds comes with different prizes (as you can see in this post), with the winning team netting over half a million dollars per player on their roster.
Now that you know the rules, you can sit back and enjoy what promises to be a wonderful show!
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