The NBA In-Season Tournament is a National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season tournament introduced during the league's 2023–24 season. The tournament was officially announced on July 8, 2023, on ESPN's NBA Today. The trophy that is awarded to the championship team is called the NBA Cup.
The format is a multi-stage tournament beginning with group play followed by single-elimination knockout rounds. Group play consists of three groups of five teams per conference (a total of six groups). Each team plays four designated regular season games (two at home and two on the road) which count towards the group stage standings. The winners in each group, along with one wild card second place team from each conference, then advance to the knockout rounds. The final two rounds of the knockout stage are played at a neutral site. The winning team receives the NBA Cup, and each winning player receives $500,000.[1] The first winner was the Los Angeles Lakers, with the first In-Season Tournament MVP being LeBron James.[2]
History
NBA officials discussed the possibility of holding an in-season tournament for at least 15 years before it was introduced.[3] The NBA has been concerned for decades about trying to compete with the National Football League (NFL) for viewers and attention when the two leagues’ regular seasons overlap during November and December each year.[4]
Each conference is divided into three groups with five teams each, for a total of six groups. The top three teams (by previous-season record) are randomly assigned to the three conference groups, then the next three are randomly assigned, and so on.
Round Robin tournament in each group: Tuesdays and Fridays during November will feature each team playing one game against each of the other teams in its group, for a total of four games (two at home and two on the road). These games also count as regular season games.
Four teams from each conference advance to a single-elimination tournament: the three pool winners in addition to the group runner-up with the best record as a wild card.
The Quarterfinal games will be hosted by the two teams with the best record in Group Play games for each conference, and the team with the best record in Group Play games will host the wild card team. If two or more teams are tied for the higher seed in a conference, the tie will be broken following the tiebreaker protocol described below.
The semifinals and championship game will be played in Las Vegas.
The championship game does not count as a regular season game.
For the 2023 tournament, players on the champion team will each receive $500,000; runners-up will get $200,000. The players on the two losing teams in the semifinals will each get $100,000, and the players on the four losing teams in the quarterfinals will each get $50,000.[10]
In the event two or more teams are tied within a group at the end of the Group Play, the tie will be broken according to the following tiebreakers (in sequential order):
Head-to-head record in the Group Stage
Point differential in the Group Stage
Total points scored in the Group Stage
Regular season record from the 2022–23 NBA regular season
Random drawing (if two or more teams are still tied following the previous tiebreakers)
If two or more teams are tied for the wild card in a conference, after group tiebreakers are resolved, the wild-card tie will be broken following the same tiebreakers described above (with the exception of the head-to-head record in the Group Stage).[11]
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), the players' union, said in 2023 that many players objected to the use of point differential and points scored as tiebreakers. These tiebreakers, according to one report, encouraged teams to run up the score, in violation of the sport's unwritten rules. Players, coaches, and other league employees have suggested alternative tiebreakers, such as limiting point differential to a maximum value per game, or using the number of quarters in which a team outscored its opponent.[12]
For the In-Season Tournament games, home teams wear the "City" edition uniforms and games are played in basketball courts especially designed for the event. The courts, unlike the ones used in the regular season, feature a fully-painted maple surface with a contrasting middle color strip painted from each end of the free-throw lane. The NBA Cup is displayed at center court, and silhouettes of the trophy are also painted on the free-throw lanes.[13] The court designs are based on the home team's "City" uniform for that particular season.[14]
Not all teams were able to play on their new In-Season Tournament courts. The Dallas Mavericks' two home In-Season Tournament games in 2023 were played on more traditional basketball courts due to manufacturing issues affecting their In-Season Tournament court.[15]
Reactions to the unique court designs were mixed, with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban saying he "wasn't a fan" of the courts, though he did admit that they were a "brilliant marketing idea."[15] Some players, including Jaylen Brown and Luka Dončić, complained that the new courts were slippery.[16][17] Some fans complained on social media that the courts were too bright and distracting.[18]
For the semifinal and final rounds at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the tournament court is blue with a red middle strip.[19] However, despite playing all tournament games in their black "City" uniforms through the quarterfinals, the Los Angeles Lakers were forced to wear their gold "Icon" uniforms in the semifinal round due to lack of contrast with the court,[20] against the wishes of Lakers players. The Indiana Pacers were also hit with the same restriction.[21]
Impact on the regular season
With the exception of the championship game, all games in the tournament are counted as regular season games.
To adjust for the differing number of games played by different teams, the NBA's regular season scheduling formula will be modified so only 80 games for each team are initially announced prior to the beginning of the season, with the 81st and 82nd scheduled games to be announced:[10]
The 22 teams who do not qualify for the knockout rounds of the tournament will play two additional games, one at home and one on the road, against other teams eliminated prior to the knockout rounds. These games will occur during the Knockout Rounds on days when In-Season Tournament games are not scheduled.
The four teams who lose in the quarterfinals will play one additional game against the opponent from the same conference on the day before the tournament Championship Game.
Awards
After the tournament, the winning team receives the NBA Cup, the design of which features a black cup surrounded by eight gold prongs, and a base inspired by the new conference championship trophies. The league also awards an In-Season Tournament Most Valuable Player award, championship medals and an All-Tournament Team.[22]
The winner of the Most Valuable Player award is decided by members of a selected media panel, as well as by online fan votes. In the inaugural tournament, 20 votes were decided by media members while 5 votes were decided by fans.[24]LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers was the inaugural MVP winner.[25]
2023 NBA In-Season Tournament
