The NBA Cup is back. The league's in-season tournament is entering its third season as part of the NBA schedule, and this year's edition will tip-off Friday, as group play begins on Halloween. The Lakers and Bucks have put up NBA Cup (or,

Friday will be NBA Cup group-play contests. • There will also be NBA Cup group play games on Tuesday, Nov. 25, and Wednesday, Nov. 26. • The semifinals and final will happen on Saturday, Dec. 13 and Tuesday,

The NBA's in-season tournament returns for its third year. The Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks won the last two tournaments, and with over $500,000 for each player on the winning team on the line, it's certainly something several of the game's biggest stars will show out for.

Each franchise has a new design created by Victor Solomon, fresh for the 2025 tournament. Solomon also created last year’s courts for the tournament and collaborated with Tiffany & Co. on designing the NBA Cup trophy. Check out all 30 courts. ALL 30 TEAM COURTS FOR EMIRATES NBA CUP 2025 pic.twitter.com/aZzsIdUedL

The first game of the 25-26 NBA season promises to be one of the best matchups of the opening week. Kevin Durant will make his Houston Rockets debut against the franchise he left in 2017, which will be celebrating the first ring night in franchise history.

While the Thunder remain untouched at the top of the NBA power rankings, the Bucks, 76ers, and Blazers are all making big jumps in Week 2.

The six group winners plus a wild card from each conference — determined by head-to-head record and point differential — go into an eight-team knockout round bracket (East vs. East, West vs. West, similar to the NBA playoffs where the conferences are separate until the Finals). The knockout round games are single-elimination.

NBA Cup, explained: Format, schedule, groups, prize money for 2025 in-season tournament originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. The NBA Cup returns for a third year in 2025.

The Celtics and the Jazz are set to play each other in the upcoming NBA 2025-26 season game. Here is all about the schedule, date, time, live stream, and more.