In-Season Tournament

What is the NBA in-season tournament?

It's a new annual competition for all 30 NBA teams. All teams take part in the first stage of the tournament, Group Play. Then, eight teams will advance to the second and final stage, Knockout Rounds. Those games will be single-elimination.

How does the tournament work?

The groups will play every Tuesday and Friday from Nov. 3-28. Then, the teams will move on to the final Knockout Rounds. These will be single-elimination games — the Quarterfinals (Dec. 4-5), Semifinals (Dec. 7), and Championship (Dec. 9). The top team in each of the six groups and one “wild card” team from each conference will move on to the Quarterfinals. The NBA will select the wild card from the teams that finished second in their group. The team with the best record in Group Play from each conference will be the "wild card" team.

What is Group Play

For the Group Play draw, all 30 teams have been randomly assigned to groups of five within their conference, determined by their won-loss records from the 2022-23 regular season. Each team is set to participate in four specified Group Play games, facing every team in its group once – two games at home and two away.

What are the Knockout Rounds?

A total of eight teams will progress to the Knockout Rounds. This includes the top team from each of the six groups in the Group Play games, along with one "wild card" team from each conference. The wild card will be the team from each conference that achieved the best record in Group Play games and finished second in its respective group. The Knockout Rounds will feature single-elimination matches during the Quarterfinals (December 4-5), Semifinals (December 7), and Championship (December 9).