<p>The <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/basketball-us/nba-cup">NBA Cup</a> drops 30 teams into a mini-tournament that runs through November and early December, creating knockout stakes while regular season games still count toward playoff seeding.</p> <p>It's the league's answer to European football's cup competitions, except these matches aren't extra games tacked onto the schedule: every group stage game counts as a regular season fixture.</p> <p>Your team's record, your playoff tiebreakers, your statistical achievements, all of it matters for both the tournament and the 82-game marathon.</p> <p>The format splits teams into six groups of five, with group winners plus two wild cards advancing to single-elimination rounds that culminate in Las Vegas.</p> <p>Prize money reaches into the hundreds of thousands per player, the championship game gets national television coverage, and increasingly, teams treat this thing like it actually matters.</p> <p>Here's exactly how the whole structure works, from group draws through to the Vegas finals.</p> <h2>The Group Stage Structure</h2> <p>The league divides all 30 teams into six groups of five, with three groups per conference.</p> <p>Each team plays the other four in its group exactly once, which gives you four games that count toward both your tournament standing and your regular season record.</p> <p>You're not sacrificing anything to compete here because these matches replace regular season fixtures that would've happened anyway.</p> <p>The seeding process uses a pot system based on previous season records, with top teams going into Pot 1, the next tier into Pot 2, and so on through Pot 5.</p> <p>They draw randomly to create groups, which theoretically balances strength across all six pools. Theoretically, at least.</p> <p>Some groups inevitably end up stacked with contenders while others feature multiple rebuilding teams, and that imbalance creates interesting dynamics for anyone following tournament markets since the path to Las Vegas varies wildly depending on group draw luck.</p> <p>Games happen primarily on designated "Cup Fridays" throughout November, creating a rhythm where certain nights carry extra weight.</p> <p>The special courts with bold center circle designs make it impossible to miss which games count toward tournament standings, which helps casual fans understand when something more than regular season positioning is at stake.</p> <h2>How Teams Advance to Knockouts</h2> <p>Six group winners automatically advance, which is straightforward enough. But the two best second-place teams also make it through as wild cards, one from each conference.</p> <p>Those wild card spots create scenarios where teams can lose their group but still advance based on overall record, which matters enormously because group strength varies so dramatically.</p> <p>A 3-1 team finishing second in a tough group might advance over a 4-0 winner from a weaker pool.</p> <p>The wild card tiebreakers follow a specific sequence that determines everything. First comes your overall group play record, then point differential across all four games, then total points scored, and finally your regular season record from the previous year.</p> <p>Point differential becomes absolutely crucial for wild card hopefuls because winning matters, but how you win matters almost as much.</p> <p>Running up the score in a blowout victory creates cushion for tiebreakers, while pulling starters early when up 25 could cost you advancement.</p> <p>This creates thrilling late-game dynamics where teams up big sometimes keep their stars in longer than typical regular season situations, with coaches balancing injury risk against tournament advancement.</p> <p>The math gets complicated quickly when you're trying to figure out whether you need to win by 12 or 15 to secure a wild card spot. But, since I know that you have loved our explanation of <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/huddle/nba/nba-news/nba-plus-minus-explained">what is plus/minus in NBA</a>, I also know that you are not afraid of calculations.</p> <h2>The Knockout Format</h2> <p>Eight teams survive group play, and then it's single elimination basketball with everything on the line.</p> <p>The quarterfinals happen in early December at the higher seed's home court, with regular season records determining home court advantage.</p> <p>These games count toward regular season standings just like group stage matches, so you're still building toward playoff positioning even as you chase the Cup trophy.</p> <p>The semifinals shift to Las Vegas in mid-December on a neutral court, with winners advancing to the championship. These matches also count in regular season records because all 82 games get filled regardless of tournament performance.</p> <p>The championship game is the one exception, as this final match doesn't count toward season records or statistics.</p> <p>The NBA Commissioner wanted that distinction clear: winning the Cup is its own achievement, separate from the regular season race.</p> <p>This structure means the two finalists actually play 83 total games if you count everything, while everyone else plays exactly 82. The teams that don't qualify for the knockout rounds have their final couple games scheduled as regular matchups against other eliminated teams, which keeps everyone at the same number of regular season fixtures.</p> <h2>Prize Money That Actually Matters</h2> <p>Players on the championship team collect $500,000 each, which isn't bad for a few extra meaningful games in November and December.</p> <p>The runners-up get $200,000, semifinal losers receive $100,000, and quarterfinal teams take home $50,000 apiece. For stars on maximum contracts, these amounts represent pocket change compared to their annual earnings.</p> <p>But for role players, young guys on rookie deals, and veterans on minimum contracts, we're talking about genuinely significant money that changes their year.</p> <p>This creates buy-in across entire rosters in ways that pure competitive glory wouldn't necessarily achieve.</p> <p>When your two-way contract player can earn $500,000 by winning a few games in November and December, everyone's incentivized to compete seriously rather than treating these matches like just another stretch of regular season basketball.</p> <p>Team incentive structures often include bonuses tied to tournament success as well, with front offices recognising quickly that encouraging Cup competitiveness helps develop winning habits that translate to playoff performances.</p> <p>Read also: <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/huddle/nba/nba-news/nba-positions-explained-basketball-roles">NBA Positions Explained</a></p> <h2>Why Point Differential Dominates Strategy</h2> <p>The point differential tiebreaker fundamentally changes how teams approach these games, especially for clubs with potential wild card aspirations.</p> <p>In regular NBA games, you'll see coaches pull starters when leading by 20-plus points with four minutes remaining as standard practice to avoid injury and give rotation players minutes. Makes complete sense for the long grind of an 82-game season.</p> <p>In Cup games, though, it's a completely different calculation. A team sitting at 2-1 in group play might already be eliminated from winning their group but still have wild card hopes alive.</p> <p>That 2-1 record might advance depending on other results across the league, but maybe five other teams also finish 2-1 across various groups</p> <p>&nbsp;Suddenly your cumulative point differential across four games determines advancement, which means every single point scored or allowed matters in ways that don't exist in typical regular season basketball.</p> <p>We've seen coaches leave star players in during blowouts specifically to pad point differential, with LeBron James playing meaningful fourth quarter minutes up 28 points, which is something that would be bizarre in a typical February game but becomes strategic necessity in the NBA Cup.</p> <p>The inverse matters too, because when you're trailing big, you can't tank the final quarter to save energy. Teams keep fighting to minimise damage, knowing a 25-point loss looks much worse than a 12-point loss in tiebreaker calculations.</p> <h2>The Vegas Finals Component</h2> <p>Let’s not hide the fact that having the semifinals and finals in Las Vegas creates the spectacle the league desperately wanted when they launched this thing.</p> <p>The neutral court eliminates home advantage, teams and fans descend on Vegas for what essentially becomes a three-day mini-event, and the atmosphere differs entirely from regular season games or even playoff matchups at home arenas.</p> <p>This Vegas component was supposed to create massive buzz and become a destination event on the basketball calendar.</p> <p>In reality, it's been fine but not spectacular, with ticket availability remaining strong (which is polite language for "not sold out") and the neutral court energy not quite matching a packed TD Garden or Crypto.com Arena in playoff mode.&nbsp;</p> <p>But television ratings have been solid, the novelty of December knockout basketball holds attention, and players genuinely seem to want this trophy now, which matters more than fan interest in some ways.</p> <p>The league announced that starting in 2026, semifinals move back to home courts with only the championship staying in Vegas.</p> <p>This change suggests they've recognised that nothing beats home playoff atmosphere, even for a mid-season trophy that's still finding its identity in the basketball calendar.</p> <h2>What It Means for Betting Markets</h2> <p>The NBA Cup creates unique market dynamics that don't exist in standard regular season games, though understanding these patterns requires recognising what actually motivates teams at different stages of group play.</p> <p>Group stage matches between evenly-matched teams often see tighter lines than equivalent regular season fixtures because both sides need the win for tournament advancement, creating extra intensity that shows up in effort metrics and close game management down the stretch.</p> <p>Point differential considerations change how blowouts develop in ways that affect various markets. In typical regular season blowouts, scoring tends to slow dramatically in garbage time as deep benches face each other and both teams essentially agree to run out the clock.</p> <p><a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/huddle/punter-iq/guide/how-to-bet-on-the-nba">Betting on NBA regular games</a> and on cup games is fundamentally different, since the latter maintain scoring intensity longer, with starters playing extended minutes even in lopsided affairs to maximize differential.</p> <p>This affects total points markets in unexpected ways, where a game that looks destined to go under might surge past the number as leading teams keep their foot on the gas.</p> <p>Elimination scenarios create motivation disparities that become increasingly obvious as group play progresses. A team already eliminated from contention facing a squad fighting for advancement represents a significant edge that's often undervalued in the lines, because the effort gap in those situations can be stark enough to overcome talent differentials.</p> <p>The NBA Cup isn't replacing the playoffs as basketball's ultimate prize, and nobody's confusing this trophy with the Larry O'Brien Championship.</p> <p>But itis fair to say that it creates genuine stakes in November when the regular season grind would otherwise mean almost nothing, with teams competing seriously, players earning substantial bonuses, and the format generating actual drama around games that previously felt like scheduled exhibitions.</p> <p>Understanding the structure helps make sense of coaching decisions that seem bizarre in typical regular season contexts, like stars playing 38 minutes in blowouts or teams fighting desperately in garbage time when trailing by 20.</p> <p>Point differential explains the first scenario, while wild card implications drive the second. The tournament's still evolving as the league tweaks rules and schedules based on what works and what falls flat, with moving semifinals back to home courts suggesting they're listening to feedback and adjusting accordingly.</p> <p>For now, it's November basketball that matters beyond just adding wins to the standings. And in a league where regular season games often feel meaningless until April, that's worth paying attention to.</p>