NBA In-Season Tournament Explained
That NBA In-Season Tournament is a new annual competition for all 30 teams that will debut in the 2023-24 season. For more information, read the overview of frequently asked questions.
I. Summary
The inaugural In-Season Tournament tips off on Friday, November 3 and culminates with the championship on Saturday, December 9. The semifinals (Thursday, December 7) and the championship will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The In-Season tournament will consist of two phases: Group games and Knockout rounds.
> A. Group play
All 30 teams have been randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on won-loss records from the 2022-23 regular season. Beginning November 3rd and continuing through Tuesday November 28th, each team will play four designated group stage matches on “Tournament Nights” – one match against each opponent in its group with two games at home and two away.
> B. Knockout rounds
Eight teams advance to the Knockout rounds: the team with the best position in group stage play in each of the six groups and two “wild cards” (the team from each conference with the best record in group stage play that finished second in their group). The Knockout Rounds will be single-elimination games in the quarterfinals (played in the NBA team markets on Monday, December 4 and Tuesday, December 5), the semifinals and the championship. The qualifying teams will compete for a prize pool and the new In-Season Tournament trophy, the NBA Cup.
All 67 games across both stages of the In-Season tournament count towards the regular-season standings, excluding the championship. Each team will continue to play 82 regular season matches in the 2023–24 season, including the matches that are part of the group stage and the knockout rounds.
Fourteen group games (two games on each tournament night) and all seven knockout round games will be televised nationally. The game and broadcast schedule for the In-Season tournament will be announced in August.
II. Tournament details
> A. Group play draw
To determine each team’s opponents in the group stage games, the 15 teams in each conference were divided into three groups of five teams via a random draw. The groups are below:
Western Conference
| West group A | West group B | West group C |
| Memphis Grizzlies | Denver Nuggets | Sacramento Kings |
| Phoenix Suns | LA Clippers | Golden State Warriors |
| LA Lakers | New Orleans Pelicans | Minnesota Timberwolves |
| Utah Jazz | Dallas Mavericks | Oklahoma City Thunder |
| Portland Trail Blazers | Houston Rockets | san antonio tracks |
Eastern Conference
| East group A | East group B | East group C |
| Philadelphia 76ers | Milwaukee Bucks | Boston Celtics |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | New York Knicks | Brooklyn Nets |
| Atlanta Hawks | Miami heat | Toronto Raptors |
| Indiana Pacers | Washington Wizards | Chicago Bulls |
| Detroit Pistons | Charlotte Hornets | Orlando Magic |
Before the draw, each team was placed in a “pool” based on their record from the previous regular season (2022–23). In each conference, one team from each pool was randomly selected into each of the three groups in that conference. The pots were as follows:
• Pot 1: The teams with the three best intra-season records in a conference.
• Pot 2: The teams with the fourth- to sixth-best records within the season.
• Pot 3: The teams with the seventh through ninth best records within the season.
• Pot 4: The teams with the 10th to 12th best records within the season.
• Pot 5: The teams with the 13th to 15th best records within the season.
> B. Group play
Tournament nights will take place every Tuesday and Friday from the 3rd-28th. November (with the exception of election day, Tuesday 7 November, when no matches are played). The only NBA games played on Tournament Nights will be group stage games. Group games count as regular season games for all purposes.
A team will play each of the other four teams in its group in a group stage game. A team’s record in these four intraconference games will determine whether the team qualifies for the knockout rounds. In the event that two or more teams are tied in a group, the tie between the teams will be broken according to the following tiebreaks (in sequential order):
• Head-to-head record in the group stage;
• Point difference in the group stage;
• Total number of points scored in the group stage;
• Regular season record as of 2022–23 NBA regular season; and
• Random draw (in the unlikely scenario that two or more teams are still tied after the previous tiebreakers).
Eight teams advance to the Knockout rounds: the team with the best standing in group stage play in each of the six groups and one wild card team from each conference. The wild card will be the team from each conference with the best record in group stage play that finished second in its group. In the event that two or more teams are tied for the wild card in a conference, the tie between the teams will be broken using the same tiebreaker protocol as described above (with the exception of the head-to-head record in the group stage). Ties within groups will be broken before calculating wild card tiebreakers.
> C. Knockout rounds
The knockout rounds will consist of single-elimination matches for the eight teams that advance from the group stages, starting with the quarter-finals on 4-5. December. Winning teams advance to the semi-finals at a neutral site on December 7th and then the championship on December 9th.
Games played in the first and second rounds of the knockout round (ie quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively) will count as regular season games for all purposes. The championship does not count as a regular season game (eg, such a game will not count toward a team’s regular season record, and a player’s or team’s performance in such a game will not count toward regular season statistics).
In each conference, quarterfinal games will be hosted by the two teams with the best record in group stage play, and the team with the best record in group stage play will host the wild card team. In the event that two or more teams are tied for the highest seed in a conference, the tie between the teams will be broken using the same tiebreaker protocol described above.
During the Knockout Rounds on days where no tournament matches are scheduled during the season (Wednesday, December 6 and Friday, December 8), the 22 teams that do not qualify for the Knockout Rounds will each play two games in the regular season.
A formal approach will determine the matchups for these games using the group stage standings in each conference (5th-15th). Two of the 22 games will be scheduled cross-over, as there will be an odd number of teams in each conference that do not advance to the quarterfinals. These cross-conference games will be scheduled between bottom teams in the group stage, subject to travel restrictions, and no team will play more than one of their two games in cross-conference. The other 20 games will be scheduled within the conference with teams otherwise scheduled to play each other three times during the season where possible.
The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each play a regular-season game on Friday, December 8, against the opponent in their same conference.
III. Awards and league honors
For the 2023-24 season, the prize pool for the In-Season Tournament will be awarded to the players of the teams participating in the Knockout Rounds, with awards increasing depending on how far a team advances in the tournament.
At the conclusion of the In-Season Tournament, the NBA will name the Most Valuable Player of the competition and the All-Tournament Team. Selection will be based on the players’ performances in both the group stage and the knockout rounds.