After previously announcing the dates and groups for its third annual in-season tournament, the NBA today revealed the schedule for the group play portion of the event. The group play stage of the tournament, which is formally known as the Emirates NBA Cup, will begin on October 31 and run through November 23.
The group play games will take place on five consecutive Fridays, with a handful of games also played on Tuesday, Nov. 25 and Wednesday, Nov. 26. The NBA has published its schedule by date, as well as its schedule by team.
Each Friday will feature a doubleheader on Amazon Prime, while NBC/Peacock will nationally broadcast a doubleheader on Nov. 25 and ESPN will air a tripleheader on Nov. 26. The full schedule of nationally televised NBA Cup games, starting with Celtics at Sixers and Lakers at Grizzlies on Oct. 31, can be found right here (Twitter link).
The NBA Cup quarterfinals will take place on December 9 and 10, with the semifinals to follow on Dec. 13 and the final to be played on Dec. 16. The higher-seeded teams will host the quarterfinal matchups, while the semifinals and final will take place in Las Vegas. Amazon Prime will broadcast all seven games in the knockout round.
West Group C, which includes the Nuggets, Rockets, Warriors, and Spurs, will be the most heavily featured group in nationally televised broadcasts — five of the 15 NBA Cup games on the national broadcast schedule will be matchups from that group, including three apiece for Houston and Golden State.
The Bucks, the champions of last year’s second annual in-season tournament, will be featured on Amazon in a group play game on Nov. 28 vs. the Knicks.
In addition to announcing the NBA Cup schedule, the league also revealed today that Amazon Prime’s first Friday doubleheader of the season, on October 24, will feature a pair of playoff matchups from this past spring (Twitter link). The Celtics will visit the Knicks at 7:30 pm Eastern time, with the Lakers hosting the Timberwolves at 10:00 pm ET.
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The full NBA regular season schedule for 2025/26 will be announced on Thursday.