Coming quickly: the NBA Cup.
The NBA unveiled the small print Saturday of its inaugural in-season match, which can have a prize pool of about $18 million and might be capped by a championship recreation — which received’t rely within the standings — in Las Vegas on December 9. It’s an occasion that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wished for years, giving groups a trophy to play for throughout the common season.
And now, it’s lastly actuality.
“This is a concept that has been rumbling around the league office for about 15 years,” Silver stated. “It’s not a new concept in sports. For those that follow particularly international football, it’s a long tradition of having in-season tournaments … so we thought, what a perfect opportunity for a global league like the NBA and it’s a perfect fit for our game.”
The match payouts for gamers on commonplace contracts might be $500,000 apiece for these on the profitable staff, $200,000 apiece for these on the runner-up, $100,000 apiece for these on the groups that lose semifinal video games and $50,000 for these on the groups that lose within the quarterfinals.
Two-way gamers on any of these groups are eligible for as much as half these quantities, relying on what number of video games they spend on a roster throughout the match.
“I can see what the aim could be,” stated Miami guard Josh Richardson, who follows international soccer intently and understands the parallels Silver makes when evaluating it to in-season tournaments that sport has all over the world. “It gives you another chance to win something, for real. I think that’s a big part.”
Games will begin on Nov. 3, being performed totally on Tuesdays and Fridays in November — apart from Nov. 7, when the NBA will play no video games to commemorate Election Day. That announcement got here Saturday, and can mark the second consecutive yr when the NBA has no video games on that date with hopes of selling civic consciousness and engagement.
The Final Four might be in Las Vegas.
“This city knows how to host big events,” Silver stated.
Teams have been assigned to a five-team group. They’ll play one recreation in opposition to one another; the six group winners will make the quarterfinals, as will the perfect two second-place groups from the teams.
They have been chosen as follows:
West Group A — Memphis, Phoenix, the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah and Portland.
West Group B — Denver, the Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans, Dallas and Houston.
West Group C — Sacramento, Golden State, Minnesota, Oklahoma City and San Antonio.
East Group A — Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Indiana and Detroit.
East Group B — Milwaukee, New York, Miami, Washington and Charlotte.
East Group C — Boston, Brooklyn, Toronto, Chicago and Orlando.
“I’m excited about this midseason tournament,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr stated. “I think it’s going to add an element of energy and excitement for the players and coaches and the fans. I think it’s a great idea.”
Joe Dumars, the league’s govt vp of basketball operations and a Hall of Famer as a participant, stated he thinks gamers will like the thought — even when it takes a while.
“Everybody’s not going to buy in right away,” Dumars stated. “That can’t be the goal, that everybody’s going to buy in from Day 1. These things take time. And I think as time goes on you can build this up and people can really get into it.”
Tournament video games, apart from the championship recreation, will all rely within the standings — a lot in the identical means that the WNBA runs its Commissioner’s Cup occasion.
It’s been recognized for a while that groups might be getting solely an 80-game schedule when the 2023-24 slate is launched by the NBA within the coming weeks.
Games 81 and 82 might be added in December; that is the place issues get tough.
Teams that don’t make the knockout stage might be assigned two video games in opposition to different non-knockout qualifiers, and people would be the lacking two video games on their schedules.
For the eight groups that make the knockout stage, the quarterfinal recreation turns into the 81st recreation added to their schedule. Quarterfinal losers — two from the East, two from the West — will play one another, and that’ll be the 82nd recreation on their schedules. Semifinalists — once more, two from the East, two from the West — will play, and that recreation turns into the 82nd recreation on their schedules.
That means the championship recreation might be one in every of 83 video games on the schedule for the final two groups standing. And for the reason that season is 82 video games, that recreation received’t rely within the standings, nor will the stats rely for something. They’ll be taking part in for cash and the trophy.
