The NBA Cup knockout rounds have a fresh look this season. Six of the eight teams that advanced from group play are different from the quarterfinal qualifiers in last year’s inaugural event.
Only the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks are repeat participants in the quarterfinal bracket.
Milwaukee is the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference after winning Group B, while New York is seeded second in the East after taking Group A. They are the only two teams in the league that went 4-0 in group play in the 2024 Cup.
The other two qualifiers in the East are the Atlanta Hawks, who won Group C and earned the No. 3 seed, and the East’s lone wild-card entry, the Orlando Magic. The Hawks will visit the Knicks on Dec. 11, while the Magic will travel to face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks on Dec. 10.
“We earned our way to the quarterfinal,” Orlando forward Franz Wagner said after he scored 30 points, but his team lost to the Knicks on Tuesday but still advanced due to point differential. “Obviously not our best game today, but that’s why you play every minute in the other games. It feels weird even after a game like this to advance, but yeah, that’s just part of it.”
While the Magic continue to play without standout forward Paolo Banchero (oblique), the Bucks have jumped on the backs of Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard en route to seven straight wins. The duo combined for 55 points Tuesday in their Group B-clinching win over the Detroit Pistons.
“They put a tournament in front of us, and we want to win it,” Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said of the lucrative event in which players on the winning team will take home more than $500,000 each.
In the West, star power stacks the quarterfinals as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder will host Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 10. Oklahoma City earned the No. 1 seed in the West after pounding the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, while the fourth-seeded Mavericks advanced on point differential after sneaking past the Memphis Grizzlies in their final matchup in group play.
The other two entries in the Western Conference knockout round are the second-seeded Houston Rockets, who won Group B, and the third-seeded Golden State Warriors, winners of Group C. Steph Curry and the Warriors will visit Houston on Dec. 11.
Thanks to a scheduling quirk, the Warriors and Rockets will also meet in Houston on Thursday, when Golden State will be looking to snap a five-game losing streak and begin generating momentum for the NBA Cup knockout round.
“We’re not closing, we’re not executing, we’re not making good decisions,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Tuesday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets. “That’s got to improve.”
On the other hand, surging teams like the Thunder (5-1 in their last six games) are hoping to stay hot between now and the NBA Cup quarterfinals.
“I wasn’t (paying attention to the NBA Cup standings) at all until I knew we were going to win tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Tuesday’s win. “I just asked around, but it’s all too confusing. I just win and then we see where we end up.”
The four teams that win in the quarterfinals will advance to the semifinals in Las Vegas on Dec. 14. The championship will take place Dec. 17, also in Las Vegas. All NBA Cup games played to this point, including the upcoming quarterfinals and semifinals, will count as regular-season games. Only the NBA Cup championship does not count toward regular-season standings and stats.
The Los Angeles Lakers, who won the inaugural 2023 event, were eliminated after losing twice last week.
