How Are Teams & Groups Bifurcated For NBA In-Season Tournament 2023?

The NBA is introducing an In-Season Tournament, taking a cue from European soccer.

The league hopes to gain as much attention and acclaim for its games as soccer’s FA Cup in England and Copa del Rey in Spain have. The NBA wants to establish “another competition to win, engage fans in a new way, and drive additional interest in the early portion of the regular-season schedule.”

The NBA Cup will be awarded to the winner.

The league held the 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament Launch, during which they made more announcements about the competition’s specifics.

All 30 NBA clubs will participate in the competition, with eight of them moving on to the knockout rounds to fight for the NBA Cup. Teams will be grouped into six groups, three each conference, for the Group Play stage of the competition. Division will not be a factor in group selection. Beginning on November 3, the Group Stage will take held in November.

This Friday marks the beginning of the NBA’s first-ever in-season competition. The victorious team will be awarded the coveted NBA Cup, and each of its players will get a substantial reward of $500,000.

The competition is structured around an initial group round in which four games are played in November between each NBA franchise. The group winners advance to the round of knockouts.

In order to structure these categories, the league used a systematic method.

Six groups of five teams each were formed from the thirty teams.

Based on their performance in the standings from the previous season, teams from each conference were divided into five pots.

Teams who finished fourth through sixth in the regular season were included in Pot 2, while the top three teams (1-3) from the regular season were put in Pot 1.

Teams finishing in seventh to ninth place were in Pot 3, teams finishing in tenth to twelve places were in Pot 4, and teams finishing in thirteenth to fifteenth place were in Pot 5.

NBA In-Season Tournament teams, groups

East Group A

  • Philadelphia 76ers
  • Cleveland Cavaliers
  • Atlanta Hawks
  • Indiana Pacers
  • Detroit Pistons

East Group B

  • Milwaukee Bucks
  • New York Knicks
  • Miami Heat
  • Washington Wizards
  • Charlotte Hornets

East Group C

  • Boston Celtics
  • Brooklyn Nets
  • Toronto Raptors
  • Chicago Bulls
  • Orlando Magic

West Group A

  • Memphis Grizzlies
  • Phoenix Suns
  • Los Angeles Lakers
  • Utah Jazz
  • Portland Trail Blazers

West Group B

  • Denver Nuggets
  • Los Angeles Clippers
  • New Orleans Pelicans
  • Dallas Mavericks
  • Houston Rockets

West Group C

  • Sacramento Kings
  • Golden State Warriors
  • Minnesota Timberwolves
  • Oklahoma City Thunder
  • San Antonio Spurs

In-Season Tournament schedule

  • Start date: Nov. 3, 2023
  • End date: Dec. 9, 2023

 

 

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