The NBA Cup is the league's annual in-season tournament. First launched in 2023, the NBA Cup was created with the aim of garnering greater interest at the start of the season.
All 30 teams are divided into six groups, with three groups in each conference. Each team plays four regular-season games designated as NBA Cup contests, which contribute to their overall standing in the group.
The subsequent winners of each group, along with the best second-place team from each conference, advance to the knockout stages.
Teams then progress to the semifinals and eventually to the final, which is held in Las Vegas.
Every game also counts towards a team's regular season record, except for the final in Vegas.
The NBA views this new in-season tournament as its marquee event to build excitement around the regular season. Adam Silver has even mentioned European football tournaments as an inspiration for the NBA Cupโparticularly their version of the English FA Cup.
In terms of its current success, the NBA Cup has shown enough promise to entice the league.
For players in particular, the cup has certainly led to more competitive matches. The current prize for winning the cup is more than $500,000 per player, which is enough to motivate players to compete, with the losing team's players also walking away with $250,000.
โThis is the closest environment you can get to playoff basketball right now,โ said Milwaukee Bucks' Gary Trent Jr.
โIt's been fun,โ said Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
โObviously, the added stakes in the game give it a little bit of a different feel. It's good preparation for the postseason. There are obviously heightened stakes compared to a regular season game, and it's good to get reps in games that mean a little bit more and have something on the line.โ
"It's great to see players buy in and really compete for something during this early part of the season," said Evan Wasch, the league's executive vice president of strategy.
Although the league has expressed its desire for growth, the NBA Cup TV ratings are down 10% from 2023. Ticket prices for the semifinals and final in Vegas have also decreased, with tickets to the Milwaukee-Atlanta semi-final selling for as low as $22.
Certainly, the league continues to emphasise the learnings from the NBA Cup experiment, which they plan to expand and refine beyond 2025.
