Mark your calendars, Pacers fans. The NBA officially announced the first four games from the Pacers' 2023-24 schedule on Tuesday, unveiling the Group Play schedule for the inaugural In-Season Tournament.
The In-Season Tournament will offer the Blue & Gold – one of the NBA's most exciting young teams – the chance to make an early statement to the rest of the league.
Indiana will host Cleveland on Friday, Nov. 3 and Detroit on Friday, Nov. 24, maintaining its traditional home game on the day after Thanksgiving. The Pacers will also play In-Season Tournament games at Philadelphia on Tuesday, Nov. 14 and at Atlanta on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
All of those games will count toward the regular season standings, but will also be a part of the Group Play stage of the In-Season Tournament. The Pacers, Cavaliers, Pistons, 76ers, and Hawks are in East Group A and will play one game against each team their group in November (all In-Season Tournament group games will take place on Tuesdays and Fridays).
Following the completion of group games, the top team in each group and the the best second-place team in each conference will advance to the Knockout Rounds, where eight teams will play out a single-elimination bracket to determine the winners of the inaugural NBA Cup. Group Play standings will be determined primarily by win-loss record, but point differential will serve as the first tiebreaker.
The In-Season Tournament will offer an exciting new competition in the early weeks of the NBA season, with all 30 teams having a chance to take home a new trophy, the NBA Cup. All players on each of the eight teams that qualify for the Knockout Rounds will receive money from a prize pool, with allocations increasing depending on how far their team advances. The NBA will also name an MVP for the In-Season Tournament, as well as an In-Season Tournament team, offering a new opportunity for players to earn accolades.
For the Knockout Rounds, the quarterfinals will take place at NBA arenas on Dec. 4-5, with the higher-seeded team hosting each matchup. The semifinals and championship will take place in Las Vegas on Dec. 7 and 9.
The 22 teams that do not advance to the Knockout Rounds will play two regular-season games (one home and one away) against each other on Dec. 6 and 8. This ensures that all 30 teams play 82 regular season games, with every In-Season Tournament game except for the championship game counting towards the regular season standings.
While the full 2023-24 schedule will be announced later this week, Tuesday's announcement means that we now know four key games on the Pacers' schedule. Indiana's group features a lot of traditional rivalries, with two classic Central Division foes in Cleveland and Detroit visiting Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the first-ever In-Season Tournament games in Indianapolis.
The Pacers turned heads last year by exceeding expectations in the first half of the season, led by first-time All-Star Tyrese Haliburton.
Haliburton signed a major extension over the summer and returns alongside veteran center Myles Turner, 2022-23 All-Rookie first-team selection Bennedict Mathurin, sharpshooter Buddy Hield, and other promising young players like Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith. The Pacers also added NBA champion guard Bruce Brown in free agency, acquired high-flying forward Obi Toppin via trade, and used two first-round picks to draft Jarace Walker and Ben Sheppard.
The Pacers have aspirations of returning to the playoffs in 2024 and the new In-Season Tournament will be a new opportunity to play high-leverage games early in the season.
To secure your seats today to be there for the Pacers' first In-Season Tournament games, visit Pacers.com/Tickets to sign up for Season Tickets. Single game tickets for the 2023-24 season will go on sale on Sept. 27. Fans can get presale access by subscribing to the Pacers Insider email newsletter at Pacers.com/Insider.