The NBA Cup is back for its fourth season, and this year the championship game is leaving Las Vegas for one of the most famous gyms in basketball. The 2026 final will be played on Friday, December 11, at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Before that, all 30 teams will play group games on Tuesday and Friday nights through November.
If you are not sure how the NBA Cup works, you are not alone. It runs inside the regular season, most of its games count in the standings, and its group tiebreakers can be confusing. This guide explains the NBA Cup format, the 2026 groups, the full NBA Cup schedule, the prize money and what to watch for this year.
Table of Contents
What is the NBA Cup?
The NBA Cup is an in-season tournament that the league added in the 2023-24 season. The idea came from European soccer, where clubs play cup competitions alongside their league seasons. The NBA wanted to give November games more meaning, at a time of year when many fans are still focused on football.
The Cup is not a separate competition with extra games for everyone. Almost all of its games are regular-season games that also count toward the Cup. Teams play their normal 82-game schedule, and the Cup is layered on top of it. Only the final is a true extra game.
Teams have treated it seriously from the start. Players earn real prize money, the winning team lifts a trophy, and a Cup MVP is named after the final.
How the NBA Cup format works
The tournament has two stages: group play in November and a knockout round in December.
Group play
The 30 teams are split into six groups of five, three groups in the East and three in the West. Each team plays four group games, one against each team in its group, two at home and two on the road.
Groups are drawn using the previous season’s records, so each group has a mix of strong and weaker teams. That is meant to keep groups balanced and avoid a group made up only of last year’s best teams.
Who advances
Eight teams reach the knockout round:
- The six group winners
- One wild card from each conference, which is the best second-place team in that conference
The wild card spot makes the final group night tense. A team that loses its group can still go through if its record and point differential are better than the other second-place teams.
Tiebreakers
With only four games each, ties are common. The league breaks ties between teams in this order, starting with head-to-head results among the tied teams and then point differential in group games. Further tiebreakers include total points scored in group play and the previous season’s record.
Point differential is the one to watch. A team that is already winning late in a group game will often keep its starters in to run up the score, which you rarely see in a normal regular-season game. It looks odd if you do not know the rules, but every point can decide who advances.
The knockout round
The eight teams play single-elimination games. In each conference, the top seed hosts the wild card and the second seed hosts the third seed in the quarterfinals. The winners meet in the semifinals, which act as the East and West finals. The two semifinal winners play for the trophy.
The quarterfinals and semifinals are played in NBA team markets, so higher seeds earn home games. The final is held at a neutral site, which this year is Hinkle Fieldhouse.
A worked example of the wild card race
The wild card rule is easier to understand with an example. Imagine three teams in the East finish second in their groups, and each one has a 3-1 record.
- Team A won its three games by a total of 30 points and lost its other game by 5. Its point differential is +25.
- Team B won its games by 12, 8 and 6 points and lost by 10. Its point differential is +16.
- Team C won by 20, 15 and 2 points and lost by 18. Its point differential is +19.
The three teams did not play each other, so head-to-head results do not help. Point differential decides it, and Team A takes the East wild card with +25.
Now imagine Team B’s last game is the final one of the night. It is ahead by 12 with two minutes left, and it knows it needs to win by 22 to pass Team A. Its coach might keep the starters in, press full court and foul to get the ball back, even though the game is already won. That is the kind of ending you only see in this tournament.
If two second-place teams have different records, the better record wins. A 3-1 team always finishes ahead of a 2-2 team, no matter how big the 2-2 team’s point differential is.
How the tournament changed November basketball
Before the Cup, the first two months of the NBA season were mostly about getting players in shape and sorting out rotations. A loss in November rarely felt important. The tournament changed that for a handful of nights each week.
Coaches now plan around group nights. Some teams have rested players for other games so they are fresh for a group game, and players have said in interviews that the prize money and the trophy make those nights feel different. Crowds in many arenas are louder than they are for a normal early-season game.
The tournament has also given smaller-market teams a stage. The Pacers reached the first final and the Thunder reached the second, both on national television in December, long before most fans were paying close attention to the standings.
Special courts and the trophy
In its first seasons, teams played their group and knockout games on special courts designed for the tournament, with bright colors that made them easy to spot on TV. Some fans loved the look and others found it distracting, and the league has adjusted the designs over time.
The winners receive a trophy, and the league names a tournament MVP and an All-Tournament Team after the final. Players on the winning team also get the top level of prize money, which is shared equally among the players on the roster.
The 2026 NBA Cup groups
Here are the six groups for this season.
Eastern Conference
- East Group A: Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets
- East Group B: New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers
- East Group C: Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards
Western Conference
- West Group A: Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz
- West Group B: Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, LA Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Memphis Grizzlies
- West Group C: San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings
East Group B stands out. It has last year’s NBA Cup champions, the Knicks, along with the Cavaliers, 76ers, Heat and the Pacers, who would love to reach a final in their own city. In the West, Group C puts the Spurs, last year’s runners-up, with the Lakers and Warriors, which should mean plenty of national TV games.
The full NBA Cup schedule for 2026
The NBA Cup schedule runs for about six weeks. Check your local listings for exact tip-off times.
Group nights
Group games are played on these dates:
- Friday, October 30
- Friday, November 6
- Friday, November 13
- Friday, November 20
- Tuesday, November 24
- Wednesday, November 25
- Friday, November 27
Group play tips off on October 30 with games including the Knicks at the 76ers, the Lakers at the Warriors and the Nuggets at the Suns. Most teams play one group game per Cup night, so some nights feature only some of the groups.
Knockout rounds
- Quarterfinals: December 4 and 5, at the home arenas of the higher seeds
- Semifinals: December 8 and 9, in NBA team markets
- Championship: Friday, December 11, at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
Why the NBA Cup final is in Indianapolis
The first three finals were held in Las Vegas, which also hosted the semifinals. For 2026, the league moved the final to Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, and moved the semifinals to team markets.
Hinkle Fieldhouse opened in 1928 and is one of the most historic basketball buildings in the country. It hosted Indiana high school championships for decades, and the final scenes of the 1986 movie Hoosiers were filmed there. For a tournament that is still building its traditions, holding the final in a gym with that much history is a smart choice.
It also means the Pacers could play for the NBA Cup a few miles from their own arena. They would need to win East Group B first, which will not be easy.
Do NBA Cup games count in the standings?
Yes, with one exception. Group games, quarterfinals and semifinals all count as regular-season games. Their results go into the standings, and player stats go into season totals.
The final is the only game that does not count. It is an extra game, so the two finalists play 83 games in the regular season. Their stats from the final are kept separately and do not count toward season averages or records.
How teams still reach 82 games
At the start of the season, every team’s schedule has only 80 games set. The other two are filled in December. Teams that reach the quarterfinals play one or two of those games in the knockout round. Teams that do not advance get extra regular-season games against other eliminated teams on the same dates. Everyone ends up with 82 games that count.
NBA Cup prize money
Players get real money for going deep in the tournament. For the 2025 tournament, prize money per player was:
- Champion: $514,971
- Runner-up: $205,988
- Semifinal losers: $102,994
- Quarterfinal losers: $51,497
The amounts are tied to the salary cap, so they usually rise a little each year. For players on minimum contracts, a Cup title can be worth a large share of their season salary, which helps explain why benches celebrate so loudly.
Past NBA Cup champions
2023: Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers won the first NBA Cup, beating the Indiana Pacers 123-109 in Las Vegas. LeBron James was named the tournament MVP.
2024: Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 97-81 in the final. Giannis Antetokounmpo was the MVP.
2025: New York Knicks
The Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 124-113 to win the third NBA Cup, with Jalen Brunson named MVP. The Knicks start their defense in East Group B.
No team has won the Cup twice. The Knicks will try to be the first.
What to watch in the 2026 NBA Cup
Group play rewards fast starts. With only four games, one bad night can end a team’s hopes, so watch which contenders treat October 30 like a big game.
The wild card race is often the most interesting part of the final group night. Teams in different groups play at the same time, and the second-place teams are all chasing the same point differential numbers. Late baskets in games that are already decided can change who advances.
Finally, keep an eye on how the move away from Las Vegas changes the knockout round. Home crowds for the quarterfinals and semifinals could give the higher seeds a bigger edge than in past years.
Common misunderstandings about the tournament
A few questions come up every year.
First, a loss in a group game counts as a normal loss in the standings. There is no separate record that only matters for the Cup. A team can go 0-4 in group play and still have a great regular season, or the other way around.
Second, teams that are knocked out do not stop playing in December. They play their two remaining regular-season games against other eliminated teams, usually on the same nights as the knockout round.
Third, there is no extra break for the finalists. The championship is played on a Friday in the middle of a busy schedule, and both teams go straight back to regular-season games the following week.
Finally, the tournament has nothing to do with playoff seeding. Winning the Cup does not give a team a better seed in April or a spot in the play-in tournament. Its rewards are the trophy, the prize money and the bragging rights.
How to watch NBA Cup games
Cup games are shown on the NBA’s national TV partners and on local team broadcasts. Under the league’s current TV deals, national games are spread across ESPN and ABC, NBC and Peacock, and Prime Video. The NBA lists the channel for each game on its schedule page, and the NBA app shows where games are available in your area.
If you have cut the cord, our guide on how to watch NFL games without cable covers many of the same streaming services, including ESPN, Peacock and Prime Video.
Frequently asked questions
When is the 2026 NBA Cup final?
Friday, December 11, 2026, at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
How many teams advance from NBA Cup group play?
Eight. The six group winners and one wild card from each conference reach the quarterfinals.
Does the NBA Cup final count in the standings?
No. The final is the only NBA Cup game that does not count toward the regular-season standings or player stats.
Who won the NBA Cup last year?
The New York Knicks, who beat the San Antonio Spurs 124-113 in the 2025 final.
Why do teams run up the score in NBA Cup games?
Point differential is a tiebreaker in group play. Teams that might finish tied with others keep scoring to improve their chances of advancing.
How is the NBA Cup different from the playoffs?
The NBA Cup is played in November and December inside the regular season, with single-game knockout rounds. The playoffs start in April and use best-of-seven series. A knockout bracket is also how college football settles its title, which our guide to the College Football Playoff format explains.
Can a team that lost a group game still win the trophy?
Yes. The wild card spots often go to teams with a 3-1 record, and even group winners can lose a game. What matters is finishing first in the group or being the best second-place team in the conference.
How do players split the prize money?
Each player on an eligible roster receives the same amount for his team’s finish. The money is paid by the league on top of normal salaries.
Are knockout games played on neutral courts?
Only the final. The quarterfinals and semifinals are played in team markets, so the higher seeds usually get to play at home in front of their own fans.
For game times and updates during group play, see the 2026 NBA Cup schedule from FOX Sports and the official NBA schedule.
