If you are wondering how does the nba cup work, the tournament isn't played in place of the regular season's 82 games. Instead, it is played as an extra group stage and single-elimination bracket on top of the regular season. Group games are double counted in the NBA Cup standings and in the regular season, and the Cup final is one game that isn't counted. Each team is in without having to pass a qualification process to make the cut to the group stage.
So if you still don't know which games count, how teams are eliminated and why some nights the court is different, this does it all!
In one line: The NBA Cup is essentially a league divided into six five-team groups, with each team playing four games in each of these groups that count for regular season points, followed by a neutral location single-elimination knockout tournament to determine a league-best team that then competes in a third round for the championship. Each of the rules is described independently below.
The Cup doesn't replace any regular-season games — it's built entirely from games teams were already scheduled to play, plus a compact knockout stretch layered on top once group play ends.
The tournament will consist of two phases:
The entire format goes like that. No extra eligibility, no opt-out, no separate roster — all teams go through the group stage, and the rest of the teams move on based on the group stage results.
These are standard NBA games in all respects — same game, same rules, same standards of the officials, same box score that contributes to a player's season stats. The only difference is that the four games are played separately in the standings compared to the regular season table to determine the group winners, and the wild card.
Teams are all organized in their own conference and no East teams play West teams in group stage — only when both the East and West finalists draw against each other in the final, then they play each other in the cross-conference.
After the eight-team bracket is determined, there's single elimination: a team's Cup run ends with its first loss. No best-of series for any knockout round.
Losing a knockout game does not affect a team's regular season standing, however: The regular season standings and playoff seeding remain totally unaffected — except for the championship game, which is not included with the standings.
Yes, except for one. Just like any other night on the season, all group stage games, quarter finals and semis count toward a team's record in their group stage as well as their playoff seeding. The championship final is the only game in the entire tournament where the regular-season record of either of the finalists does not get impacted whatsoever and is more of an exhibition game for regular-season purposes even though the trophy and player bonuses are real.
Games in the Group stage and knockout games are played on a court that is suitably marked with tournament branding instead of a team's home court, which is usually a full court paint scheme in keeping with the team's “Statement” edition uniform that differs from the regular-season court under the same paint scheme. The Statement Edition of the uniforms are worn by home teams and the Association Edition, which are specifically for Cup games, are worn by visitors, making these nights distinguishable from the rest at a glance.
They haven't gained universal acceptance, with some players complaining about slicker playing surfaces than a standard hardwood court, and a few teams switching back to their normal courts in previous seasons because of slipperiness or storage-damage issues. It's cosmetic and not a change to the rules or the scoring.
These are the most frequently confused elements that pop up once fans begin to watch the Cup itself and the league's official FAQ answers the questions asked by fans:
Does the loss in the knockout stage negatively affect their season if their team loses?
NO — this is likely the greatest misinterpretation of the format. If that team lose the game in the Knockout round, they lose the chance of winning the Cup trophy. Any wins they have made throughout the group stage or knockout round counts toward the regular season record, so a team can exit a knockout round in the quarterfinals and be perfectly fine for the playoffs.
Does the championship game count to the standings, as all the other Cup games do?
No, and this is truly the only exception, in the entire format. The league's own rules say that all Emirates NBA Cup matches are treated as regular season matches with the exception of the championship game – that one game is a championship.
Why is it that my team's schedule has two games left as TBD in December?
Many fans are drawn in when they first go to their team's schedule. The two regular-season games of the teams advancing to the knockout round (the Quarterfinal and Semifinal) are marked as TBD for December 9-15, as the dates and opponents will be dependent on group play winners and losers. It is not a scheduling mistake, it's how the league releases the calendar prior to the bracket being established.
Are the six groups determined by the league office, as a “nba bracket seeding committee”?
Not exactly. The way the NBA explains it, teams are seeded according to last year's record and then the teams are randomly drawn into the groups of their conference, not pulled into a matchup sheet by hand.
If a team gets to the Cup Final, does that mean that they are one of the best teams in the league?
Not necessarily, and it's a legitimate reason to be skeptical — a four-game sample is too small, and a hot streak, a strong group, one or two lucky bounces can get a team further than it deserves to go based on its four-game record. It's a true trophy, it's a true accomplishment, but a different (and much shorter) season than the 82-game season on which the playoffs are built.
When the rules are understood, the games are simple to wager — provided they are played on a gambling website that's licensed to accept Filipino patrons. Sports OKBet does just that.
In essence, the NBA Cup game format is simple: a short group stage scored twice, with the top teams moving into the single-elimination bracket, and one exhibition-style championship game which is considered separate from the regular-season record. When you understand the rules of the tournament and eliminate a team, that makes it much easier to follow and bet on the tournament. Sports OKBet gives you live odds on the NBA Cup and you can bet the format on a platform that's licensed in the Philippines.
Including towards the Cup standings) with the top four teams from each conference then competing in a single-elimination bracket for the neutral Cup championship (the single game not counted towards the regular season).
Yes, unless the championship final, but even then. All games in the group stage are played against full-length regulation.Group stage games, quarter-final and semi-final games are all played against full length regulation.
It's the league's in-season tournament — a knockout bracket consisting of short group-stage regular-season games which concludes with an independent championship to claim a trophy and a player bonus pool, separate from the NBA Finals in June.
Once a team loses a game of the knockout round, the team is out. A losing game does not affect regular season or playoff record of that team.
All teams compete on a tournament-branded court and the home team wears a "Statement" edition, the away team a "Association" edition, both of which are a purely design element of the uniform and do not alter the rules of the game.
Yes, easily. When that team is eliminated from the Cup, that's the end of their run to the Cup — their regular-season record continues to accumulate towards playoff seeding just as it would without the elimination.
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