NBA
When does the NBA Cup 2024 knockout round start? Dates and matchups of the quarterfinals
This year is the second edition of the in-season competition, with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a Championship Game taking place in December.
The 2024/25 NBA season is little more than a month old but there’s already a lot on the line as we approach the knockout rounds of the NBA Cup.
Introduced last year - initially called the ‘In-Season Tournament’ - the NBA Cup was designed to add greater intrigue to the early season fixture schedule and it’s certainly done that. Last season’s winners, the LA Lakers, have lost two of their four group stage games this year and their title defence ends at the first hurdle.
The group stage phase of the NBA Cup runs from Tuesday, November 12 through Tuesday, December 3, with four fixtures against the other teams in their group. Once the group stage is wrapped up on Tuesday, sights will turn to the quarter-finals, to be played across Tuesday, December 10 and Wednesday, December 11.
The quarter-final fixtures have not yet been defined but they will be structured according group phase performance. The team with the best record in each conference will host the team with the worst record; the second-best will host the second-worst; and so on.
The semi-finals will be played on Saturday, December 14 and the Championship Game on Tuesday, December 17. All knockout round fixtures are single-elimination games, meaning that the stakes will be high for every second of the action.
Do NBA Cup games count towards the regular season?
Yes, mostly. All group stage, quarter-finals and semi-final games in the NBA Cup will count towards the regular-season standings. However the Championship Game will not be included in the regular season standings.
With one night of group stage action remaining there are still teams looking to secure their spots in the knockout rounds. The winners of each of the six groups will progress to the quarter-finals, along with the best second-placed team in each conference.
If two or more teams within the same group are tied, a series of tie-breakers will be used to decide who progresses. Those tie-breakers, in order, are: head-to-head record; point differential; total points scorer; record from 2023/24 regular season.
Finally, if all of these metrics are level, a randomised draw will be used to decide which team progresses. It is incredibly unlikely that it could ever come to this, but it would be quite the finale for a thrilling group stage.
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