NBA Cup Opens Friday With a New Road to Hinkle Fieldhouse
The Emirates NBA Cup opens Friday, October 30, beginning a competition that will end in a different setting this year: Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The tournament gives the early regular-season schedule a second set of stakes, with a separate trophy decided in December.
Washington hosts Charlotte at 7 p.m. Eastern in East Group C, according to the league’s schedule. Prime carries Knicks–76ers at 7:30 p.m. and Lakers–Warriors at 10 p.m. Eastern. The NBA’s opening-day briefing lists Friday’s 10 games.
How teams advance
The NBA’s tournament FAQ outlines two stages. All 30 clubs enter group play, with five teams in each of six groups. Each team plays four designated games, split evenly between home and away, against the other members of its group.
The six group winners advance, along with one wild card from each conference. Those wild cards go to the best second-place team in each conference. From there, the eight remaining clubs move into single-elimination play rather than a playoff-style series.
Cup games count toward the regular-season standings except for the championship. That means a group-stage result has consequences beyond the tournament table, while the title game stands outside the standard 82-game schedule.
A different championship stage
The quarterfinals are scheduled for December 4–5, with semifinals on December 8 and/or 9 and the championship December 11. Higher-seeded teams will host the semifinals, replacing the previous Las Vegas gathering of the last four teams.
The league’s Hinkle Fieldhouse report places the final on Butler University’s campus, inside a building that has hosted basketball since 1928. Its current capacity is 9,100. The venue became a National Historic Landmark in 1987, long before being selected for this NBA showcase.
For viewers, Friday starts two parallel races: the familiar regular-season standings and the smaller tournament groups. The first checkpoint is advancement; the eventual destination is a championship game in one of basketball’s historic college buildings. Follow PowerPage Sports for further coverage as the competition develops.
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