The NBA Cup bracket consists of eight teams in a single-elimination format from group-stage play (three teams from each of the two conferences plus one wild card from each) all heading to a neutral-sited final. No special draw for bracket day, teams are drawn in by their standing in four group games.
This is a breakdown of how teams qualify, how teams are seeded and the location of each round from the group stage down to the championship.
In one line: The top four teams in each conference, consisting of the three team winners and one wild card in each group, advance to a single-elimination knockout tournament at a neutral site for the NBA Cup. Everything below is a description of how each part of the mechanism unfolds.
Group play is a priority. Each conference is divided into three teams in each group, and each team plays four game—two at home and two away—with the other teams in their group. The group standings and bracket seeding were determined simultaneously.
Bulls go to the knockout round in two ways:
That makes 4 teams in each bracket of each conference, 8 overall, evenly divided, with no cross bracketing until the championship.
All seeding of brackets is based on group-stage results. If the teams are tied in the group stage, the result of the four group stage games in the event of a tie is used as the tiebreaker, followed by head-to-head result and full-season record according to the standard NBA tiebreaker rules.
The seeding can change rapidly, as each team has just four matches in group play and a single blow out can potentially change the wild card race overnight.
After the 8 team bracket is established it moves forward in three round-robin stages:
| Round | Teams | Venue | Counts toward regular season? |
| Quarterfinals | 8 → 4 | Higher seed's home arena | Yes |
| Semifinals | 4 → 2 | Higher seed's home arena (as of 2026) | Yes |
| Championship | 2 → 1 | Neutral, pre-announced host venue | No |
The higher placed team in group play hosts the quarter and semi finals, which is a good incentive for the team to cap off their group play season with a winning streak even if they have secured a bracket spot. The final is the one round transferred off any team's home course: It is played at a neutral location that is announced prior to the season, and emphasizes that the championship is not a regular season game. It's also the only game which isn't part of a team's regular-season record.
The simple format of the bracket (8 teams, 3 winners from each conference, plus one wild card for each conference) has remained the same since the tournament's inception. The later rounds are played where what's moved is moved. The semifinals were held in the same location as the final, but at a neutral site, until the 2025 edition. Since the 2026 bracket, semifinals would be played at the higher seeded team's home court, and the championship would be played at a different, rotating location. An impactful shift for anybody keeping an eye on the home-court quotient in the knockout stage: A bracket run now has two rounds of home-ice advantage, rather than one.
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The mechanics of the NBA Cup bracket is very clear once you see it: Group play is used to set the seeds, three winners (plus a wild card) per conference form the field, and a neutral site final rounds start on the higher seed's court until it gets to the final. Observe the filling of the bracket and when you're ready to support a team in the knockout stages, then do so on a site that's truly licensed for Philippine gamblers. Follow all the rounds starting from the quarter-finals up to the final and check all live odds in the NBA Cup bracket on Sports OKBet.
Eight teams make it in (the three best teams in each conference plus one wild card by best record from each conference) then play a single elimination bracket, quarter final, semi final, neutral site final.
There are four teams in each conference, with three teams being the automatic group winners, and one team being the wild card team.
Seeding is based on group-stage results — Group record first, point differential from the four group games, and head-to-head result and full-season record of a tie.
Quarterfinals and semifinals are played at the higher seed's home court, except for the championship final, which is played at a neutral, announced location.
Yes, but there's one thing. The results of the quarter final and semi final games are included in the regular season record. The championship final is not included in the regular season record.
No — winning a group means a Bracket Berth. The only teams that miss the bracket are runners-up who don't post the best wild-card record in their conference.
