The inaugural NBA in-season tournament in 2023 saw the Los Angeles Lakers capture the championship with a 123-109 win over the Indiana Pacers. NBA all-time leading scorer LeBron James won tournament MVP.
The event will be slightly different in 2024, as it will now be presented by Emirates and called the NBA Cup.
On Thursday, we learned more about the event’s second year, including the dates of the semifinals and finals, along with the unveiling of a brand-new logo.
On Friday, July 12, all 30 NBA teams will be divided into six groups of five within their conferences. ESPN will unveil the pools at 7 p.m. ET on NBA Today: Emirates NBA Cup Group Reveal.
Group play will begin four months later, on November 12. It will be played out in “Cup Nights,” which will air on the three Tuesdays after the 12th and three Fridays leading up to the knockout rounds beginning on December 10 and 11.
For the second straight year, the semifinals and finals will take place at Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena. The semifinals will be on December 12, and the final will be on December 14.
Additionally, just like last year, the 22 teams that don’t qualify for the knockout round will play two (one on the road, one at home) randomly assigned games against each other sometime between December 12 and 16, while the teams that lose in the quarterfinals will also play each other.