What to know about the NBA Cup as Warriors begin tournament quest

The big headliner for Tuesday night’s game at the Chase Center is the Bay Area return of Klay Thompson, who’s set to play against the Warriors for the first time since leaving for Dallas this past summer.

But it’s also the first night of the Emirates NBA Cup.

This being the second annual in-season tournament, here’s a refresher on how it all works.

What’s the format?

The tournament runs from Nov. 12 through Dec. 17.

It starts with the group stage, in which every team plays four games — two at home and two on the road. Each “pod” of five teams, all from the same conference, is created based on last year’s regular-season records. Those group stage games are Tuesdays and Fridays for the next few weeks.

Eight teams qualify for the quarterfinals depending on their group stage performance. Those games will be played at the home arenas based on group play performance, then the semifinals and finals are held in Las Vegas.

NBA Cup games are played on unique courts which occasionally feature eye-popping colors. Margin of victory matters for tiebreakers, so teams are incentivized to run up the score.

All statistics count from the games except for in the championship game, which is curiously scrubbed from the history books.

Who do the Warriors play?

Golden State’s group includes the Mavericks, Pelicans, Nuggets and Grizzlies.

After the Dallas matchup, the Warriors’ next NBA Cup games are this Friday against Memphis, Nov. 22 at New Orleans and Dec. 3 at Denver.

Wait, it has a new name now?

One year in and the league has already rebranded.

Last season, the inaugural in-season tournament was called, well, the NBA In-Season Tournament. Now, as you may have heard from recent broadcasts around the league, it’s the Emirates NBA Cup.

Who won the tournament last year?

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Pacers in the championship game. Anthony Davis registered 41 points, 20 rebounds, five assists and four blocks in the final. LeBron James was named tournament MVP.

Los Angeles was 14-9 after last year’s In-Season Tournament. They went 3-10 after the tournament and finished with a 45-36 record overall.

What happened to the Warriors last season?

Golden State didn’t qualify for the Las Vegas portion of the tournament. They would’ve entered the quarterfinals had they not choked away a 24-point lead to the Kings — a collapse that included two turnovers in the last minute.

Why is the league doing this?

One common critique of the NBA is that the regular season feels insignificant. The league wanted to introduce an in-season tournament, similar to European soccer cups, to draw more interest before the Christmas games.

Last year’s games in Las Vegas seemed a bit more intense than an average game, but that’s only anecdotal. The stakes for players are minimal, but not zero.

What do the players play for?

Bragging rights and sweet, sweet cash.

Every player from the NBA Cup champion gets a roughly $500,000 bonus. The runners-up get a prize of about $200,000. Players who reach the semifinals get about $100,000 and the quarterfinal teams get $50,000.

The sums are slightly higher than last season because prize money is tied to increases in basketball-related income.

Do fans care?

Last year’s championship between the Lakers and Pacers drew a peak of 5.6 million viewers. It was the most-watched non-Christmas NBA game in six years, per Nielsen.

Veteran NBA scribe Howard Beck posted a poll on the social media platform X to gauge fans’ excitement level in the tournament. The results were mixed: 49.5% of respondents either answered “meh” or “make it stop,” with the other 50.5% responding, “It’s cool/fun” or the most positive option of, “BREEN DOUBLE BANG.”

We really can’t agree on anything, huh?