One thing we know for sure - The Miami HEAT are never giving less than 100% when the season starts no matter the composition of their roster. With that said, it’s time to get fired up for a new event established by the NBA that will take place during the 2023-2024 season and beyond. Known as the NBA In-Season Tournament, the competition will tip off on Friday, November 3rd, and culminate with a pair of semifinal games and, finally, a championship matchup at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on December 9th.
With the schedule now official, your Miami HEAT will play their first tournament game against the Washington Wizards at 8:00 P.M. at the Kaseya Center. Ticket information for that game, and all other home In-Season Tournament games, can be found here. The HEAT will also debut brand-new City Edition jerseys which will be worn throughout the tournament.
Now this doesn’t mean the regular season, playoffs, or NBA Finals are being removed or altered. NBA teams will still play 82 regular season games, and the top eight seeds will clinch playoff berths and compete for an NBA Championship, the league’s most coveted prize, in the traditional best-of-seven format.
Rather, this new tournament has been implemented to add additional excitement to the regular season by injecting a bit of international-style sports competition into the league and giving all 30 teams a real shot at some hardware. There’s also a cash prize for the top teams that manage to advance in the tournament as well as accolades for the top performers.
This tournament will also provide another potential trophy to win, with a format that throws in the insane variability of one-game samples for those who get past the Group Play games. Most teams will lose a seven-game series when facing a superior opponent, but the new Knockout Round introduces just enough chaos to make it so that it’s truly unclear who will get to hoist the NBA Cup in December. And really, none of this will be intrusive in a way that distracts from the season or diminishes the postseason. Here’s a breakdown of the format and rules:
- All 30 teams have been divided into six groups. This process is randomized based on win-loss records from the previous regular season though conferences still separate the East and the West.
- The Miami HEAT have landed in East Group B alongside Milwaukee, New York, Washington, and Charlotte.
- Every NBA team will have four Group Play games that will take place on Tuesdays and Fridays from November 3rd through the 28th (except on Election Day on Tuesday, November 7th; no games will be played that day). The only NBA games played on Tournament Nights will be Group Play games. Miami, then, will face off against each of the aforementioned opponents from East Group B in the following order:
- vs Washington November 3rd at Charlotte November 14th
- at New York on November 24th
- at Milwaukee on November 28th
- The top eight teams will qualify for the Knockout Round. The team with the best record in each of the six groups will make this round and, in addition, a “wild card” team from the Eastern and Western Conferences (the team from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group) will be granted a berth.
- For example, if Miami were to go 4-0 in Group Play, they would automatically clinch a Knockout Round spot. A 3-1 finish would also still give them a chance to clinch, but it would depend on wider Group Play records to know for certain.
- The Knockout Rounds will consist of NFL-style single-elimination games in the Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Championship. The eight teams will compete for the new In-Season Tournament trophy, the NBA Cup. Additionally, each of the Knockout Round teams will earn a cash prize which scales based on how far they advance ($50,000 for each player who loses in the Quarterfinals up to $500,000 for each of the champions)
- The Semifinals and Championship will have a wrinkle in that they will be played on a neutral site in Las Vegas.
- Also a small note: the Championship game will be the only game that doesn’t count for the regular season (it would end up being 83 games for two teams after all).
- The League will name an MVP of the In-Season Tournament and release an All-Tournament Team, formatted similarly to end-of-season awards (League MVP; All-NBA) based on the totality of their Group and Knockout stage performances.
Still confused? Think about it this way. During the first third of the year, the regular season games you’d normally watch will have a little bit more significance on Tuesdays and Fridays. The regular season will otherwise remain intact, but it’s going to feel a tad better to win those group-stage games. Fans at the Kaseya Center always bring the noise, but starting with these home Group Stage games, a playoff-type atmosphere will be needed to aid Miami’s tournament ambitions.
Besides, wouldn’t the NBA Cup look nice next to a trio of Larry O’Brien’s?
