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The court for the Orlando Magic during the 2023-24 NBA In-Season Tournament. The competition is back this year, rebranded as the "Emirates NBA Cup." NBA/Getty Image

NBA Cup: Everything to Know Regarding the Magic's In-Season Tournament Outlook

Originally posted on Orlando Magic on SI
By Mason Williams | Last updated Nov 12, 2024 2:27 PM ET

ORLANDO, Fla. – When the NBA introduced the In-Season Tournament for the first time in the 2023-24 season, they sought out to answer one question: How can the league interest more fans in the early portion of the schedule?

In America, this portion of the sports calendar is dominated by football. It's why college basketball loads up non-conference schedules with heavyweight matchups and multi-team events designed to gauge fans' interest in teams before the annual March Madness event. But up until last season, the NBA really only had it's slate of Christmas Day games to note as a marquee day on the calendar. So, the league set out to fix that.

Enter the In-Season Tournament, which returns for a second season under a new name: the Emirates NBA Cup.

The competition runs at the same time as the regular season, and games count towards the end-of-season playoff standings*. All 30 NBA teams participate, as they're divided into six groups different from their divisions.

From there, winners of each group and one wild card per conference advance to the knockout rounds of the tournament. Then, it's a straight single-elimination tournament the rest of the way.

The semifinals and finals are held in Las Vegas, and one team celebrates by lifting the NBA Cup trophy at the end.

Teams who do not advance to the knockout rounds are scheduled two games versus fellow non-advancing teams to fulfill the 82-game requirement. Because of the tournament's nature, the two teams who advance to the final of the NBA Cup will play 83 games in the regular season, although the NBA Cup final game does not count toward season statistics or the regular season standings.

Here's a full refresher:

The Groups

via NBA

The Orlando Magic are in East Group A, along with the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets and Charlotte Hornets.

Pools were selected based on last year's standings. Every group includes a team that finished 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 and 13-15 in the conference's standings.

For the Magic's group, New York was the 2-seed last season, Orlando fifth, Philadelphia seventh, Brooklyn 11th and Charlotte 13th.

Group play occurs on "Cup Nights," which take place every Tuesday and Friday from November 12-December 3. Orlando, as everyone else will, plays each team in its group once for the competition – two games at home and two games away. The Magic host Charlotte tonight (Nov. 12) and Philadelphia (Nov. 15) for their two home Cup games.

Should they advance to the knockout rounds of the competition, they could potentially host a third NBA Cup game at home.

Tiebreakers

The NBA has identified five tie-breaking scenarios to settle potential ties. They'll be utilized in sequential order:

Head-to-head record in Group Play
Point differential in Group Play*
Total points scored in Group Play *
Record from the 2023-24 NBA regular season
Random drawing (in the unlikely scenario that two or more teams are still tied following the previous tiebreakers)

* Note: Overtime scoring will not count towards the point differential and total points tiebreakers for Cup competition. Any game that goes to overtime will be marked as "0" in the point differential, and total points will only include regulation points scored.

Prizes

Of course, the NBA had another dilemma to solve regarding the tournament: How do they ensure that the players care?

That's where incentives come in, as a prize pool of money is allocated to players on teams that participate in the knockout rounds. Those rations increase depending on how far teams progress in the tournament.

Certain honors are also available – a MVP of the competition will be awarded and an All-Tournament team will be named, with selections made on the criteria to include both group play and knockout rounds.

The Court

You'll also notice that the playing surface is a stark contrast to the usual look for teams.

Here's what the Magic's court looks like for this year's competition:

Orlando Magic

The Magic will also be wearing their blue-pinstriped Statement jerseys this year, a league-wide shift from the usage of last year's City Edition jerseys being used in the competition.

Orlando has yet to unveil their official 2024-25 City Edition look.