NBA Cup Winners Get a Serious Cash Prize, Plus the Winning Team Earns a Trophy
The last Cup winners received $500,000 each.
Published Nov. 25 2024, 10:19 a.m. ET
In order to foment some more excitement during the regular season, the NBA has debuted a series of mini-tournaments, such as the 2024 Emirates Cup. It was formally announced on July 8th, 2023, but back then it was called the "In-Season Tournament."
Since this is a new addition to the league, you may be asking yourself: How does it work?
How does the NBA Cup work?
Like any tournament, there are multiple stages involved with the NBA Cup. First, it begins with group play which involves three separate groups in each conference. Each one of these groups consists of five teams that play four different group-stage games. At the end of group play, their wins are tallied up.
The teams with the most wins then advance to the single-game elimination games and if a team loses any of these games, then they're officially knocked out of the tournament.
Additionally, there are wild card teams from each conference that can partake in these "knockout rounds."
The Los Angeles Lakers won the first NBA Cup.
The NBA cup also carries additional financial incentives for players involved along with a tournament trophy to go along with the victory. For the 2023 Cup, each player on the Lakers received $500,000, and LeBron James was named the Most Valuable Player for the regular season tournament games.
The NBA cup was a long time in the making.
The National Basketball Association has toyed around with the idea of regular season tournaments for the past 15 years or so prior to it being officially introduced.
It's said that the league was attempting to emulate the idea of tournaments akin to the NFL as a means of generating more viewership and revenue among fans.
It was announced on Feb. 2, 2024, that the Emirates airline company would be sponsoring the NBA Cup for the 2024 season and onward. The NBA's website refers to the business on its official web page where its official rules, along with the teams involved, and their current standings are updated regularly.
Here are the current standings for the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup.
A total of 67 games are a part of the NBA cup and these contests will all count towards the teams official season records with the sole exception of the cup's championship game.
As it stands, Group A is led by the Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, and New York Knicks, who each have two wins and zero losses. Group B is headed by the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Detroit Pistons, who also have two wins and no losses. Group C's Golden State Warriors lead with a 3-0 record.
In the Western Conference, Group A has the Houston Rockets in the lead with two wins and no losses. The L.A. Lakers are up 2-0 for Group B, and the Golden State Warriors have won all three of the games they've played putting them at three wins and zero losses, making them the front runners for the tournament currently.
Does tournament style play in the NBA cup make you more predisposed to watching basketball during the regular season? Or were you watching regardless, or do you still just care about the playoffs? Or maybe curling is more your thing?