The NBA will add an in-season tournament in the 2023-24 season that fans of the Boston Celtics will need to brush up on. The tournament will have six groups of five teams. Each group’s winner, along with a wild-card team from each conference, will advance to an eight-team knockout round.
The tournament kicks off Nov. 3 and ends with the championship game on Dec. 9. The semifinals and championship will be held in Las Vegas. All tournament games will count toward each team’s 82-game regular season.
The NBA’s added this tourney to generate interest in the long regular season without making it longer given the already considerable span of the calendar year already occupied by each season.
Former All-Star John Wall recently held a private workout in Las Vegas, and the Celtics were one of a handful of teams in attendance. https://t.co/G36SLuoFSQ
The NBA is introducing a new in-season tournament this fall, and the #Rockets will have a tough group alongside the Nuggets, Clippers, Mavericks, and Pelicans.
The NBA is introducing a new in-season tournament this fall. Six five-team groups — three groups in each conference — will play a round-robin format. The winners of each group along with one wild-card from each conference advance to the eight-team knockout round.
The 2023-24 tournament will tip off on Friday, Nov. 3 and culminate with the championship game on Saturday, Dec. 9. The semifinals (Dec. 7) and championship will take place at a neutral Las Vegas site.
Excluding the championship, all tournament games will count toward each team’s 82-game record for the 2023-24 season. In short, the NBA is multi-purposing some of its existing results, as opposed to adding games or lengthening an already long regular season.
The Rockets will be clear underdogs in their Western Conference group, which also includes the Dallas Mavericks, New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Clippers and defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets. Each of those four teams were far better last season than the 22-60 Rockets.
Then again, perhaps a younger team like the Rockets will be more incentivized to prioritize tournament games when compared to established teams with larger goals for the 2024 playoffs.
The NBA announced the full details of the in-season tournament it plans to launch in the 2023-24 season. The launch event was held on Saturday in Las Vegas.
The tournament was added to the league’s calendar after the new collective bargaining agreement was agreed upon by owners and players. All 30 teams will participate; they were divided into six groups of five teams. Every team will play four group games against the other four members on Tuesdays and Thursdays in November. The group games will count as regular-season games as well.
The six group winners and two wild-card teams will advance to the knockout round and play a single-elimination eight-team tournament. The final four of the tournament will be played in Las Vegas on Dec. 7 and Dec. 9. The winner will receive $500,000 for each player on the roster.
Only 80 regular season games will be scheduled for all 30 NBA teams. The remaining 22 teams who do not advance to the knockout rounds will have two additional regular season games added to equal 82. The two championship-round teams will end the regular season with 83 games.
The groups were revealed on Saturday. The Oklahoma City Thunder will be in the West Group C, which consists of the Thunder, the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves.
One of the biggest changes that were made in the newest CBA is the addition of a mid-season tournament. After years of speculation, the change was made official when the CBA was agreed upon by owners and players.
The Oklahoma City Thunder — along with the other 29 teams — will get a chance to play in the inaugural tournament next season. The final four of the tournament are expected to take place in Las Vegas on Dec. 7 and Dec. 9, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojanorwski. The semifinal statistics will count towards the regular season; the championship round will not.
The league will divide its 30 teams into six pools of five teams. The pools will be composed of teams from the same conference, but not necessarily the same division.
On designated days in the first six weeks of the regular season, teams will play four group games that will also count as regular season games. All five pool teams will play against each other at least once in two road games and two home games.
The six pool winners and two wildcard teams will enter a single-game elimination tournament that will conclude in Las Vegas. Players on the winning team will earn $500,000 each.
Only 80 regular season games will be scheduled for all 30 NBA teams. The remaining 22 teams who do not advance to the knockout rounds will have two additional regular season games added to equal 82. The two championship-round teams will end the regular season with 83 games.
This will mean a lot more to players on minimum deals and two-way contracts.
Welcome to Layup Lines, our basketball newsletter where we’ll prep you for the tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox.
The NBA In-Season Tournament is expected to tip off for the first time next season with a winner crowned in early December 2023.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks, each player on the winning team will receive $500K. Meanwhile, those who are rostered on the second-place team will collect $200K. Players who finished in third place will receive $100K and those in fourth will receive $50K.
The money could mean something different for players on two-way deals, though. Two-way players can earn up to half the rookie minimum, which is projected at $1.1 million next season.
So that means the max amount a two-way player can earn is $551K for their annual deal, but that rate would basically double if their team took home the trophy during the in-season tournament.
Maybe players on max contracts or even most standard contracts won’t go crazy for this cash prize, but those on the fringes who could potentially make appearances in this tournament might.
Professional athletes are naturally wildly competitive people. If it’s mostly those on minimum deals and two-way deals getting on the floor, we might see some relatively interesting basketball.
Otherwise, because these games count toward the regular-season standings anyway, it’s no less interesting than your typical NBA game in November or December.
The Tip-Off
(Wang Xiang/Xinhua via AP)
NBA content from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
A Chinese basketball team with Eric Bledsoe and Michael Beasley was disqualified from the postseason for “fixing” multiple playoff games:
“Two basketball teams in the Chinese Basketball Association, the Shanghai Sharks and the Jiangsu Dragons, were thrown out of the ongoing playoffs for match-fixing.
The Sharks have several players with NBA experience including Michael Beasley, Eric Bledsoe, Johnny O’Bryant, and Jamaal Franklin. Antonio Blakeney is the only player with NBA experience on the Dragons, although a few other players on the roster have played NBA Summer League.
Findings from an investigation from the CBA Disciplinary and Ethics Commission concluded that Shangai showed “negative contention” during the second game of a three-game series, which Jiangsu won.
Bledsoe was serving a four-game suspension for the Sharks, and he served all three during the three-game series against the Dragons. But the team was accused of “giving up” during the second game, forcing a third game, so that he could return for the second game if his team advanced to the semifinals.
Jiangsu then demonstrated a “lack of competitive effort” in the third and final game of the series, in which Shanghai won 108-104.
Jiangsu had several “unexpected errors” in the final few minutes of the game and coach Li Nan failed to call a timeout that could have at least kept them in contention.”
The tournament will be part of the league’s 82-game schedule, per reports.
Per the Athletic’s Shams Charania, the NBA announced the salary cap for the 2023-23 NBA season is projected to be $134 million, about $10.4 million higher than this season, with a $162 million tax level. Both figures are $1 million higher than previous projections, which is sure to be welcomed by a Boston Celtics franchise with designs on contending over that period.
Charania indicated the league has a working framework for a potential, long-rumored in-season tournament. The Athletic NBA insider reported the tournament would take place in November as part of the league’s regular 82-game season. Other details are still to be ironed out between the league and the National Basketball Players Association.
It was also reported by Charania that eight teams would advance to a single-elimination final stage in December, with the two last teams left playing one extra game over the usual 82.
Celtics Lab 140: Does the NBA have enough talent to expand, and how might it affect the Boston Celtics if they did? https://t.co/M3fxQ9VBPC
