In‑Season Tournament

NBA In-Season Tournament

All 30 teams split into 6 groups during Group Play in November, 8 teams advance to the single-elimination knockout rounds in December, culminating with the Semifinals and Championship at a neutral site, where a champion is crowned.

In-Season Tournament

The NBA In-Season Tournament (“IST”) is a new annual competition for all 30 teams that will debut in the 2023-24 season.

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Group Play Draw

To determine each team’s opponents in the Group Play games, the 15 teams in each conference were divided into three groups of five teams via a random drawing. The groups are below:

Tournament Nights will take place every Tuesday and Friday from Friday, Nov. 3 – Tuesday, Nov. 28 (with the exception of Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 7, when no games will be played). The only NBA games played on Tournament Nights will be Group Play games. Two of the Group Play games will be played at Little Caesars Arena. Group Play games will count as Regular Season games for all purposes.

A team will play each of the other four teams in its group in one Group Play game. A team’s record in these four intraconference games will determine whether the team qualifies for the Knockout Rounds. In the event two or more teams are tied within a group, the tie among the teams will be broken according to the following tiebreakers (in sequential order):

Head-to-head record in the Group Stage;
Point differential in the Group Stage;
Total points scored in the Group Stage;
Regular season record from the 2022-23 NBA regular season; and
Random drawing (in the unlikely scenario that two or more teams are still tied following the previous tiebreakers).

Knockout Rounds

In each conference, Quarterfinal games will be hosted by the two teams with the best record in Group Play games, and the team with the best record in Group Play games will host the wild card team.

During the Knockout Rounds on days when In-Season Tournament games are not scheduled (Wednesday, Dec. 6 and Friday, Dec. 8), the 22 teams that do not qualify for the Knockout Rounds will each play two regular-season games. The four teams that lose in the Quarterfinals will each play a regular-season game on Dec. 8.

Prize Pool

For the 2023-24 season, the In-Season Tournament prize pool will be allocated to the players on the teams that participate inthe Knockout Rounds as follows:

Players on winning team of Championship: $500,000 each
Players on losing team of Championship: $200,000 each
Players on losing team of Semifinals: $100,000 each
Players on losing team of Quarterfinals: $50,000 each

League Honors

At the conclusion of the In-Season Tournament, the NBA will name the Most Valuable Player of the In-Season Tournament and the All-Tournament Team. Selection will be based on the players’ performance in both Group Play and the Knockout Rounds.

Additional Information

Tickets and NBA Experiences for the Semifinals and Championship will be available at NBAEvents.com, with premium experiences on sale now and individual game tickets available on Monday, July 10.

FAQ

The NBA In-Season Tournament (“IST”) is a new annual competition for all 30 teams that will debut in the 2023-24 season.

The IST will provide players and teams with another competition to win, engage fans in a new way and drive additional interest in the early portion of the regular-season schedule.

The inaugural IST will take place in November/December 2023 during the early portion of the 2023-24 regular season.

All IST games will be played in NBA team markets except the Semifinals and Championship, both of which will be held at a neutral site.

All 30 teams will participate in the first stage of the IST, Group Play. Eight teams will advance to the second and final stage of the IST, the single-elimination Knockout Rounds.

The team that wins the IST will receive a new trophy, the NBA Cup. In addition, there is an IST prize pool that will be allocated to players on teams that qualify for the Knockout Rounds, with amounts tied to team advancement.

At the conclusion of the IST, the NBA will name the Most Valuable Player of the In-Season Tournament and the All-Tournament Team. Selection will be based on the players’ performance in both Group Play and the Knockout Rounds.

All 30 teams will be randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on won-loss records from the 2022-23 regular season. Each team will play four designated Group Play games – one game against each opponent in its group, with two games at home and two on the road. Group Play games will be played on “Tournament Nights,” which will take place every Tuesday and Friday from Nov. 3-28 (with the exception of Election Day on Nov. 7). The only NBA games played on Tournament Nights will be Group Play games.

Before the Group Play draw, each team was placed into a “pot” based on its record from the prior regular season (2022-23). In each conference, one team from each pot was randomly selected into each of the three groups in that conference. Pot 1 had the teams with the three best prior-season records in a conference, Pot 2 had the teams with the fourth- through sixth-best prior-season records and so on through Pot 5.

Eight teams will advance to the Knockout Rounds: the team with the best standing in Group Play games in each of the six groups and one “wild card” team from each conference. The wild card will be the team from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group.

The Knockout Rounds will consist of single-elimination games in the IST Quarterfinals (Dec. 4-5), Semifinals (Dec. 7) and Championship (Dec. 9).

Every team will still play an 82-game regular season. All IST games will count toward the regular-season standings except the Championship, which will sit outside the regular season.

Every team will play two regular-season games (including the IST Quarterfinals and Semifinals for qualifying teams) during the week of Dec. 4. The 22 teams that do not qualify for the Knockout Rounds will play two regular-season games during IST off nights that week (Dec. 6 and 8). The four teams that lose in the Quarterfinals will play a regular-season game on Dec. 8.

The game and broadcast schedule for Group Play will be announced in August.

Group Play games will air nationally on ESPN and TNT and on local broadcasts. Knockout Stage games will be televised by ABC, ESPN and TNT.

Tickets for the neutral site Semifinals and Championship can be purchased at NBAEvents.com.

Tickets for Group Play or Quarterfinals games, which will both be played in NBA team markets, can be purchased directly through the host team’s ticketing provider. Additional information on purchasing tickets for Group Play can be found at NBATickets.com.

Complete information about the IST is available at NBA.com/In-Season-Tournament/2023.

Teams that do not make the Quarterfinals will have their 81st and 82nd games for 12/6 and 12/8 announced on 11/29 after the conclusion of Group Play. The four teams that qualify for Knockout Rounds and lose in the Quarterfinals will have their 82nd game for 12/8 announced on 12/5 following the conclusion of the Quarterfinals.