Power Ranking Western Conference NBA Cup Groups

The NBA Cup is entering year three, seeing two separate champions, a name change and colorful courts. The league still seems determined to make this a hallmark of its calendar, selling the rights to the tournament to its new TV partner, Amazon Prime.

While lifelong NBA fans cast this mid-season tournament aside as another Adam Silver gimmick, the longer the Cup lasts, the more legitimate it will feel. Soon, an entire generation of NBA fans will not remember a time without this regular-season checkpoint.

Sure, it isn't perfect. The Cup forcing the two best teams to play an 83rd game isn't great and the format lending itself to jam-packed schedules in January and February to make up for time off in November and early December throws another wrinkle in things, but ultimately this scribe still considers the early returns on the in-season tournament a success.

Every game that stems from the NBA Cup would've been played anyways, it just adds a bonus feature to follow along with if you choose to invest in the group play stage. If a fans wants, they can simply ignore every aspect of the NBA Cup outside of the flashy courts as they still count as regular season games early in the year as they always would've. The only losers are the two teams stuck with playing an additional game.

There also has been some extra on the court juice from teams early in the season. This stems not only from the competitive nature of players participating in games with stakes and additional money on the line but also the days off on each side of Cup games that keep team's fresh.

Earlier this month, the NBA announced the Groups for the pool play stage of the NBA Cup tournament. Let's go through and rank each Western Conference Group from the most difficult pool to the least.

Ranking the Western Conference NBA Cup Groups

1) The Group of Death: Group C

This is by far the deepest, most competitive and interesting group in the entire NBA Cup pool play stage, regardless of conference. The Group of Death featuring the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trailblazers and San Antonio Spurs.

Not a single team looking searching for losses in this group, all postseason hopefuls who made improvements to their rosters over the course of the summer. The Denver Nuggets are the most improved team in the NBA and if they take the regular season more seriously, they should be able to impress with a win total worth of the No. 2 seed minimum.

Houston's addition of Kevin Durant catapults them from fun story to legitimate contenders while the San Antonio Spurs hope this is the year Victor Wembanyama and company make a postseason leap. Golden State still has one of the best players in the sport, Steph Curry as he and Jimmy Butler were a dynamic duo at the end of last season. Portland is the biggest dark horse in the NBA Cup field.

The Favorite: Denver Nuggets. This has been an offseason of improvement for the Denver Nuggets. This scribe believes the Mile High Club won the summer transaction window in the association. Under new head coach David Aldeman, who more than impressed in his limited run at the end of last season, the Nuggets might take the regular season more seriously this go around –– made possible by their added depth. With no slight to Denver, the term favorites means less in this group than in any other pool in the NBA Cup.

The Dark Horse: Portland Trailblazers. The Trailblazers embody the term dark horse. They are a young, scrappy team that will absolutely treat the NBA Cup as if it matters –– that is half the battle. Through two NBA Cups, there have been a handful of teams that have a too cool for school attitude about these pool play games. The Trailblazers will want to compete and want to win and that may be enough when battling teams like Denver and Houston, who might go on cruise control during games or need rest for the likes of Kevin Durant in these matchups. Denver and Houston are cemented contenders, while Portland is still trying to prove they are postseason caliber.

2) The Fear of the Unknown: Group B

No one knows how seriously the Clippers will take the regular season, specifically the still viewed as meaningless NBA Cup. The same can be said for the Los Angeles Lakers. Though, the Western Conference will be as competitive as ever with just a few games seperating a home court advantage squad from the NBA play-in tournament. With these games counting in the regular season standings, it would only make sense for each team to go all out in these tilts.

The Lakers additions of DeAndre Ayton and Marcus Smart can be viewed as made in desperation but their skillsets compliment exactly what the purple and gold need. Sure, Ayton has underachieved in the NBA. But this is his last chance to truly make it in the association. His ability to roll to the rim will be paid off by Luka Doncic routinely. Smart's ability to succeed off the ball as a catch and shoot option can also be maximized around Doncic and company. The Purple and Gold still roster LeBron James and fringe All-Star Austin Reaves. This was a squad good enough to win 50 games a year ago and got better.

The rest of the teams have question marks with the Mavericks and Grizzlies starting the season with players pine redden due to injuries and the New Orlenas Pelicans shaping up to be the laughing stock of the 2025-26 campaign.

The Favorite: L.A. Clippers. One of the two L.A. clubs should be viewed as the favorites in this Group. Though, let's side with the veteran ladened Clippers. Sure, their roster is closer to retirement homes than bachelor pads, but as they enter the season fully healthy they are not only talented enough to win these games but might be motivated too. While L.A. has enjoyed its fair share of offseason praise, plenty remain skeptical of what this aged roster can do. This is the first chance to really make a statement.

The Dark Horse: Dallas Mavericks. Kyrie Irving being sidelined to start the season throws a wrinkle into the Mavericks early season contention plans. However, with the caliber of defense Dallas should be able to play, what if they just grind out three-plus wins in this stage and advance to the knockout round? It certainly seems possible. The Lakers are true challengers, the Grizzlies early season injuries should derail their Cup quest and the Pelicans are, well, the Pelicans.

3) The Easiest Path: Group A

Group A sees Oklahoma City, Minnesota, Sacramento, Phoenix and Utah battle it out. Though, Phoenix and Utah pose less of a threat than Eisenhower High School to grab hold of Group A, while the Sacramento Kings have the same amount of bite as a 13-year-old Yorkie losing its teeth.

That leaves two true contenders to advance to the Knockout stage as Group winners, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Thunder have the most talented and deepest roster in the NBA and have proven to have great maturity in the regular season to take these tilts seriously.

Oklahoma City should be able to make a return trip to Vegas which starts by navigating this easy Western Conference Group.

The Favorite: OKC Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder just rattled off 68 wins last season, doing so while being healthy for only 8.5% of the season. The Thunder are NBA Champions, and while there are usually concerns over a championship hangover, Oklahoma City's depth should help them avoid any ruts in the season. With the NBA Cup schedule spread out, the Thunder should be able to give every team its best shot. When battling against three teams projected to miss the playoffs, it is their group to lose.

The Dark Horse: Minnesota Timberwolves. It seems strange to label Minnesota, a legitimate threat to win the Group, as a dark horse. However, it speaks to how bad the rest of the pool is. The Suns, Kings and Jazz don't make up dark horses; they are true long shots. This is a two-team group.