LAS VEGAS — The Magic on Friday drew a challenging group for Group Play of the NBA Cup, the league’s second-ever in-season tournament.
Orlando was placed in East Group A alongside New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Charlotte.
The tournament — which will consist of two stages including Group Play and the Knockout Rounds — starts Nov. 12 and will end with the semifinals (Dec. 14) and the title game (Dec. 17) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
All 30 teams were randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on win-loss records from the 2023-24 regular season. Each team will play four designated Group Play games — one game against each opponent in its group, with two games at home and two on the road — on “Cup Nights,” which will take place every Tuesday and Friday from Nov. 12-Dec. 3.
The only NBA games played on Cup Nights will be Group Play games.
Although the Magic found out their Cup opponents on Friday, they won’t know when they’re playing each team in their group until the league’s schedule is released at a later date.
East Group B included Milwaukee, Indiana, Miami, Toronto and Detroit. East Group C features Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta and Washington.
Eight teams will advance to the Knockout Rounds: the team with the best standing in Group Play games in each of the six groups and two “wild cards” (the team from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group).
The Knockout Rounds will consist of single-elimination games in the quarterfinals (played in NBA team markets on Tuesday, Dec. 10 and Wednesday, Dec. 11) and semifinals and championship game.
The teams in the Knockout Rounds will compete for a prize pool and a trophy, the NBA Cup.
During the Knockout Rounds on days when NBA Cup games are not scheduled (Dec. 12-13 and Dec. 15-16), the 22 teams that do not qualify for the Knockout Rounds each will play two regular-season games.
The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each play a regular-season game on either Dec. 15 or Dec. 16 against the opponent in their same conference.
The Magic failed to advance to the Knockout Rounds last year during the first in-season tournament.
Jason Beede can be reached at [email protected]
