NBA Cup Schedule May Benefit Losing Teams, League Exec Defends Format

In its debut season, the NBA needed to educate fans, teams, and players about the NBA Cup’s tournament’s format and purpose. There were ups and downs, but a viewership bump and buy-in from players enamored with the $500,000 grand prize silenced some of the doubts in Year 1.

The league has made tweaks entering Year 2, such as scheduling both semifinal games for the same day to give finalists equal rest entering the finals. But a new wrinkle makes the tournament arguably more valuable for teams not qualifying for the Final Four in Las Vegas.

A Potential Schedule Issue

The NBA Cup quarterfinals and semifinals count as two games on each team’s 82-game schedule. Teams that don’t qualify have two games finalized after group play. But on the four days of the knockout rounds, only the NBA Cup games are scheduled.

While teams that miss the knockout rounds may not win any money—players from the quarterfinals’ losing teams still take home about $50,000—most will play only two games between Dec. 8 and Dec. 19. Additionally, their two games are, generally, chosen from a weaker pool given the teams that qualify for the NBA Cup knockout rounds tend to be stronger teams. This year, all eight quarterfinalists are above .500.

The Ringer’s Kirk Goldsberry said Wednesday on The Bill Simmons Podcast that a Western Conference executive told him he’d rather his team have “time off” and play “lesser opponents” than compete in Vegas.

The League’s Perspective

Evan Wasch, the NBA’s executive vice president for basketball strategy and analytics, told Front Office Sports that the league discussed the schedule with all stakeholders, who agreed this was the best format. He said teams that lose in the quarterfinals and semifinals will also have breaks of three to five days following their NBA Cup games—with two exceptions.

“We don’t really think there’s a key differentiator in terms of the rest benefit of advancing or not advancing. The only difference is for the two teams that do make the championship. But at that point, the sense was that you’re playing for the Cup, for that incremental money, and that’s a trade-off that was viewed as a strong net positive,” Wasch said.

The two eventual finalists will play a game that will not be included in their regular-season count—meaning each will play 83 games. Last season, the Lakers and Pacers, the two finalists, won just one of their next five regular-season games after the tournament. “Oh my god, I’m tired,” Lakers star LeBron James said while icing his knees in the locker room after the tournament, a moment featured on the Netflix series Starting 5.

While Wasch seemed confident in the current schedule and incentives of the NBA Cup, he didn’t rule out the possibility of changes coming in the future.

“We’re constantly evaluating and assessing the tournament. Because there’s always going to be unexpected outcomes and things that we learn each year, we’re very open to considering tweaks and format changes, big and small,” Wasch told FOS.