NBA In-Season Tournament explainer

The inaugural In-Season Tournament tips off Friday with seven matchups. Below is everything you need to know about the NBA’s first foray into the competition.

What is the In-Season Tournament? ?

A 67-game competition broken up into two stages where all but one of the games (the final) will count toward the 82-game regular season. All 30 teams will participate, and each will also unveil special court designs for its respective games.

As currently constructed, the 2023-24 NBA regular-season schedule features 80 games per team (including In-Season Tournament games). Teams that don’t progress beyond the first stage of the tourney will have two additional games added to their schedule, while teams that do progress will fulfill their 82-game schedule with no fewer than two games in the elimination round of the tournament. The two teams that play in the championship of the In-Season Tournament will play an 83rd game.

Statistics from tournament games count toward regular-season totals, except for the championship game.

How is the event formatted? ?

The In-Season Tournament is comprised of two stages: group play and knockout rounds.

Teams were placed in three groups of five based on their records from last season, split up by conference. Each team plays its four group-play opponents once, with two of the four games played at home and the other two on the road. These games take place Tuesdays and Fridays in November.

The top team from each of the six groups at the completion of group play advances to the knockout rounds, where they’ll be joined by one second-place wild card from each of the two conferences based on record. Tiebreaker information can be found here.

Knockout-round games are single elimination and get started with the quarterfinals during the first week of December ahead of the inaugural In-Season Tournament championship on Dec. 9. The semifinals and championship game will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The winning team will hoist the NBA Cup, and only players who participate in knockout rounds are eligible for portions of the prize pool. Players on a team eliminated in the quarterfinals earn an additional $50,000, increasing up to $500,000 per player on the championship-winning team. Coaches will earn the same amounts.

The tournament will also present a Most Valuable Player award and name an all-tourney team.

Why is the NBA adding this to the schedule? ?

The In-Season Tournament has been introduced to further engage fans and to drive additional interest in the early part of the season’s schedule.

“It’s fun for fans to have something new to kind of lock in, especially early in the year,” Steph Curry said.

“As players, unless you’re in the championship game playing for the prize money and the trophy and the pride and all that, it’s still 82 games. It’s just under a different narrative.”

It’s hard to say at this juncture if the In-Season Tournament has long-term viability or if it will be short lived, like the NBA All-Star Game draft. Only time will tell.