- How Does the NBA Cup Work 2026? Format, Groups & Bracket
- Do NBA Cup games count toward the regular season?
- Find your team's four Cup games
- How does the NBA Cup work 2026? Groups, wild cards and tiebreakers
- NBA Cup group stage and knockout round: how the bracket comes together
- What to check as Group Play opens
How Does the NBA Cup Work 2026? Format, Groups & Bracket
Starting Oct. 30, every one of the NBA's 30 teams plays four designated Group Play games that count twice: once toward the Emirates NBA Cup standings, once toward the regular 82-game record. That's the short answer to how does the NBA Cup work 2026, and it adds up to 60 Group Play games before the field narrows to an eight-team knockout bracket (NBA.com).
Group Play runs through Nov. 27, and the knockout rounds follow from Dec. 4 to Dec. 11, according to NBA.com's August schedule release (NBA.com).
This is the fourth NBA Cup (Wikipedia), and the Knicks enter as defending champions after beating the Spurs 124-113 last December, a result that made New York the first team to hold the NBA Cup and the NBA championship in the same season (FOX Sports).
This guide covers which games on a team's schedule count twice, how a group title or wild-card spot gets decided, and how the knockout bracket is set up.
Do NBA Cup games count toward the regular season?
Yes, with one exception. All four Group Play games count toward both the Emirates NBA Cup standings and the regular-season record, and so do the quarterfinal and semifinal games a team plays after advancing, FOX Sports reported in August (FOX Sports).
That's different from playing extra games. A Group Play game is still one game on the schedule; it just gets logged into two standings at once, a team's 82-game record and its Cup group standings.
The championship is the only game in the tournament that doesn't affect a team's regular-season win-loss record, per FOX Sports (FOX Sports). It's set for Dec. 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (NBA.com).
Only the Dec. 11 championship sits outside the regular-season standings; it remains the game that determines the NBA Cup champion. Every Cup Night through Dec. 9 still counts as a normal regular-season game.
Find your team's four Cup games
The 2026 NBA Cup format splits all 30 teams into six five-team groups, three per conference. Each team plays its four group opponents once, two at home and two on the road, NBA.com's August schedule release shows (NBA.com).
East Group A East Group B East Group C Pistons, Nets, Raptors, Magic, Bucks Knicks, 76ers, Pacers, Heat, Cavaliers Hornets, Wizards, Bulls, Celtics, Hawks
West Group A West Group B West Group C Rockets, Mavericks, Jazz, Suns, Nuggets Clippers, Timberwolves, Thunder, Grizzlies, Pelicans Lakers, Warriors, Trail Blazers, Spurs, Kings
Take the Knicks as an example. They sit in East Group B, so their four Cup-eligible games are against the 76ers, Pacers, Heat and Cavaliers: at Philadelphia on Oct. 30, at Indiana on Nov. 13, then home against Cleveland on Nov. 25 and Miami on Nov. 27 (NBA.com). Find a team's group in the table above, then match it against those four opponents on the schedule. Those are the only games on a team's slate that count twice.
Group Play falls on seven dates: Oct. 30, Nov. 6, 13, 20, 24, 25 and 27 (NBA.com). Fifteen of the 60 Group Play games air nationally across Prime Video, NBC and ESPN, including five Friday doubleheaders on Prime and a Thanksgiving Eve tripleheader on ESPN (NBA.com).
The opening doubleheader pairs the Knicks at Philadelphia with the Lakers visiting Golden State. Toronto went unbeaten in Group Play last season before losing to New York in the quarterfinals. Its first Group Play opponent this season is Detroit, which finished first in the East and recorded its first 60-win season in two decades (NBA.com).
How does the NBA Cup work 2026? Groups, wild cards and tiebreakers
Six group winners advance automatically. Two wild cards fill out the eight-team bracket, one per conference, going to the best group runner-up in that conference, FOX Sports reported in August (FOX Sports).
When runner-ups are compared, the NBA's official standings page lists the tiebreaker order: head-to-head record, point differential in Group Play, total points scored in Group Play, then prior-season regular-season record (NBA.com).
Consider two conference runner-ups who both finish Group Play 3-1 but play in different groups, so they never face each other. Head-to-head doesn't apply, and the wild card comes down to point differential across their four games rather than total points scored.
NBA Cup group stage and knockout round: how the bracket comes together
Eight teams reach the single-elimination bracket: the six group winners and the two conference wild cards, FOX Sports reported in August (FOX Sports).
- Six group winners and two conference wild cards qualify for the knockout bracket.
- Quarterfinals are played Dec. 4-5 in NBA team markets.
- Semifinals follow on Dec. 8 and/or Dec. 9, also played in team markets rather than at a neutral site.
- The championship is a standalone, neutral-site game at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Dec. 11.
That structure is confirmed by both the league's own schedule release and outside reporting (NBA.com; FOX Sports). The league hasn't detailed, in its public release, exactly which quarterfinal or semifinal matchup gets hosted where beyond "team markets." Readers tracking a specific bracket matchup should check the NBA's schedule pages once Group Play closes Nov. 27 and seeding locks in.
The championship stays separate from that local-market format no matter which two teams reach the final.
What to check as Group Play opens
Group Play tips off Oct. 30 with a Prime Video doubleheader: Knicks at 76ers, followed by Lakers at Warriors. It runs through a Black Friday doubleheader on Nov. 27 (NBA.com).
Find a favorite team's group, then mark its four games against those specific opponents on the schedule. Those are the only Cup Nights that count twice; everything else on the slate is a standard, single-count regular-season game. The NBA's official Cup standings page tracks all six group races and both wild-card chases once Group Play begins.