The NBA regular season has only gotten more heated with the league’s emerging in-season tradition: the Emirates NBA Cup. In 2025, the league-wide tournament enters its third season after the inaugural 2023 contest brought a massive boost in regular season viewership, in-game innovations like custom-designed court floors and the first NBA games played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Following the Los Angeles Lakers’ victory in the 2023 tournament and the Milwaukee Bucks’ win in 2024, every team in the league returns to compete for their place in the event’s budding history. The 2025 Emirates NBA tips off on October 31 and wraps on December 16. Below, learn all of the ins and outs of the Emirates NBA Cup in-season tournament.
What is the Emirates NBA Cup?
The Emirates NBA Cup is the league’s first schedule format change since the postseason-expanding Play-In Tournament was introduced during the 2020–21 season. Unlike its recent predecessor, the new midseason contest involves all 30 teams and occurs during the regular season on four designated “Cup Nights” starting in October. With the exception of the Championship game, a team’s wins and losses in the tournament will count towards their overall 2025-26 regular season record. In 2024, the NBA In-Season Tournament was renamed the Emirates NBA Cup.
What is the format of the Emirates NBA Cup?
The Emirates NBA Cup features two stages. Beginning with Group Play, all 30 teams are split into six groups: three from the Eastern Conference and three from the Western Conference. All five teams within a group play each other once for a total of four games — two at home and two away. These games will take place primarily on Fridays, dubbed “Cup Nights,” in October and November.
Once each team completes their four Group Play matchups, the team with the best tournament record from each of the six groups, as well as one “wild card” from each conference with the second-best tournament record, will advance to a single-elimination Knockout Round. In the event of a tie between two teams following the Group Play stage, the advancing team will be decided sequentially by their head-to-head record within the midseason tournament, point differential in Group Play, total points scored in Group Play (not including overtime), regular season record from the 2024-25 NBA season or random drawing.
The final four teams will then head to the neutral site of T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to play in the Semifinals round on December 13. The Championship game follows on December 16.
How are Emirates NBA Cup groups determined?
To determine the group placements for the Emirates NBA Cup, all 30 teams are ranked within their conference by their win-loss record from the previous season, then divided into five “pots” of three teams. Pot 1 consists of the top three teams and continues in descending order through Pot 5. Pulling from one pot at a time, each team is randomly placed into one of three groups, resulting in three groups of five per conference. The 2025 placements were formally announced on Wednesday, July 9.
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Western Conference
West Group A
West Group B
West Group C
Eastern Conference
East Group A
East Group B
East Group C
Why Does the NBA have a Midseason Tournament?
The Emirates NBA Cup was introduced as the In-Season Tournament in 2023 to raise engagement and encourage more competitive play during the pre-All Star Break portion of the NBA regular season. Typically, primetime NBA games early in the season compete for sports fans’ attention while the NFL and NHL are in full swing. During its official unveiling on July 8, 2023, Commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN, “New traditions take time. But, all throughout sports, we are seeing new innovations, and now is the time for this NBA In-Season Tournament.”
Emirates NBA Cup FAQs
How many rounds are in the Emirates NBA Cup?
The Emirates NBA Cup will feature two stages before the Championship game: a monthlong Group Play Round, followed by a single-elimination Knockout Round composed of Quarterfinals and Semifinals games.
When is the Emirates NBA Cup?
The Emirates NBA Cup tips off on Friday, October 31. “Cup Nights” will take place primarily on Fridays in October and November until the Group Play Round concludes on Friday, November 28.
The Knockout Round will begin with a Quarterfinals stage running Tuesday, December 9 and Wednesday, December 10. The single-day Semifinals stage occurs on Saturday, December 13 and the Championship game follows on Tuesday, December 16.
Where is the Emirates NBA Cup taking place?
All Group Play matchups will follow regular season scheduling. Each team will face their four group opponents once, with two home games and two on the road.
During the Knockout Round, all Quarterfinals matchups will take place at the home arenas of teams with the best Group Play records. The Semifinals stage of the Knockout Round as well as the Championship game will be hosted at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
How many teams will make the tournament?
All 30 teams will compete in the Group Play Round, while eight teams, consisting of the team with the best tournament record from each group and two “wild card” teams that earned the second-best tournament record within each conference, advance to the Knockout Round.
What do the winners of the Emirates NBA Cup receive?
Along with the honor of raising the NBA Cup, each player on the winning team will receive over $500,000. A prize pool is then divided among all participating Knockout Round teams, with the championship runner-up players earning $200,000 each, players on losing Semifinals teams winning $100,000 each and Quarterfinals competitors netting $50,000 per player.
In addition, the NBA names a Most Valuable Player and makes selections for a league-wide All-Tournament Team based on players’ performance in both Group Play and the Knockout Rounds.
Which teams have won the Emirates NBA Cup?
The Los Angeles Lakers won the first Emirates NBA Cup in 2023 with a 123-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers. For the 2024 tournament, the Milwaukee Bucks claimed the midseason championship over the Oklahoma City Thunder, 97-81.
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