How the NBA In-Season Tournament Works: A Guide
The NBA has introduced a new wrinkle into its 2023-24 season in the form of an in-season tournament that’s distinct from the regular season. The tournament has created another trophy that teams can win and raised the stakes of games, giving fans even more of a reason to get their hands on NBA tickets. Of course, since it’s the first year of the tournament, fans might be a little confused by how it works. That’s why we put together a guide that will hopefully explain and answer any questions you have about the NBA’s in-season tournament.
General Format
The format for the NBA’s in-season tournament should be easy to follow. The teams are still divided into the Eastern Conference and Western Conference. Within each conference, the teams are divided into three different groups. Each group has five teams, although these are not the same as the divisions. Every team will play one game against the other four teams in their group, giving each team two home games and two road games.
After each team has played four games during group play, the winner of each group and the best second-place team in each conference will advance to the knockout round, which is single elimination. In the knockout round, the team with the best record in each conference will face the second-place team from their conference in the quarterfinals, while the other two group winners will play one another.
The two quarterfinal winners from each conference then play one another in the semifinals, with the two winners from those games meeting in the final. Keep in mind that the quarterfinals will be hosted by the higher seed, but the semifinals and finals will be played in Las Vegas.
Timeline
Group play for the in-season tournament will take place throughout November. The last day that group games are scheduled is November 28. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Monday, December 4, and Tuesday, December 5. The two semifinal games will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday, December 7. The final is scheduled for Saturday, December 9, and will also be played at T-Mobile Arena.
Special Tournament Nights
How do fans know that a game is a tournament game? The NBA has designated Tuesday and Friday as tournament days. This means that every NBA game played in November on a Tuesday or a Friday is a tournament game, while games on every other night in November will be normal, regular-season games.
What Are the Groups?
As mentioned, the groups for the 2023 NBA in-season tournament are different from the division formats. The 15 teams from each conference were put into different pots based on their regular-season records last season. In other words, the three best teams are in pot 1, the 4-6 teams in pot 2, the 7-9 teams in pot 3, and so on. There was one team from each pot drawn into each of the three groups in each conference with the hopes of leading to fair and balanced groups.
In the Eastern Conference, Group A features the 76ers, Cavaliers, Hawks, Pacers, and Pistons. Group B features the Bucks, Knicks, Heat, Wizards, and Hornets, and Group C features the Celtics, Nets, Raptors, Bulls, and Magic. In the Western Conference, Group A features the Grizzlies, Suns, Lakers, Jazz, and Trail Blazers. Group B features the Nuggets, Clippers, Pelicans, Mavericks, and Rockets. Group C features the Kings, Warriors, Timberwolves, Thunder, and Spurs.
What if There’s a Tie in the Standings?
With each team playing just four games during group play, it’s reasonable to expect teams to finish with the same record. If a tie needs to be broken to determine what team advances to the knockout round, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head. If there are multiple teams tied or a tie between two second-place teams, the next tiebreaker is point differential in group play games.
If the point differential is the same, the next tiebreaker is the total points in group play games. If there is still a tie after that, the team with the better regular-season record during the 2022-23 season will advance. In the unlikely event that teams still can’t be separated, the NBA will have a random drawing to see what team advances, although that’s highly unlikely.
Will the Tournament Impact the Regular Season?
The NBA’s in-season tournament shouldn’t have much of an impact on the regular season because all tournament games take place at the same time. Therefore, teams will have to approach tournament games the same as regular season games.
Since the quarterfinals and semifinals will count in the regular-season standings, the regular-season schedule has been adjusted to include 80 games rather than 82 games. This means teams eliminated in the group stage will have two additional games scheduled later in the season, one at home and one on the road.
The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each play one additional game against another quarterfinal loser in order to reach 82 games. With this format, only the two teams that play in the final will end up playing more than 82 games, and the final will be the only game that isn’t also a regular-season game.