2023 NBA In-Season Tournament

2023 NBA In-Season Tournament

Official promotional poster for the championship game
Tournament information
Location	Local NBA cities (group stage and quarterfinals) Las Vegas Strip (semifinals and championship game)
Date	November 3 – December 9, 2023
Venue(s)	Local NBA arenas (group stage and quarterfinals) T-Mobile Arena (semifinals and championship game)
Teams	30
Purse	See prize money
Final positions
Champions	Los Angeles Lakers (1st title)
Runner-up	Indiana Pacers
MVP	LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers)

The 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament was a multi-stage basketball tournament that played during the 2023–24 NBA season. It was the first edition of the NBA Cup, then under the working name NBA In-Season Tournament. All 30 teams participated, each playing four regular season games that count towards the tournament's group stage standings. All games in the knockout round, except for the championship game, also counted towards the regular season standings. The tournament's semifinals and championship game were played at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip.

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers in the championship game, and Los Angeles' LeBron James was named the Most Valuable Player for the tournament.

The tournament's format was similar to in-season, multi-stage tournaments in European soccer.^[1]

In the group stage, each conference was divided into three groups with five teams each, for a total of six groups. Regular season games played on Tuesdays and Fridays between November 3 and November 28 counted in the regular season standings and the In-Season Tournament standings. Each team played one game against each of the other teams in its group, for a total of four games (two at home and two on the road).^[1]

If two or more teams in a group had equal records upon completion of group play, the following tiebreakers were applied in this order:^[1]

1. Head-to-head record in the group stage
2. Point differential in the group stage
3. Total points scored in the group stage
4. Regular season record from the 2022–23 regular season
5. Random drawing

Each group's winner then advanced to the knockout stage, as did one wild card from each conference—the group runner-up with the best group stage record. The knockout stage was a single-elimination tournament. Quarterfinal games were played in local NBA markets on December 4 and 5, with the teams with the top two group stage records in each conference hosting, and the best team in group-play games would host the wild-card team. The semifinals were played on December 7, and the championship was on December 9. The final two rounds were played at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip.^[1]

Quarterfinal and semifinal games counted as regular season games, affecting teams' positions in league standings, but the championship game did not. Statistics from the championship game are also not counted in regular season totals.^[1]

To balance the regular season, the four teams that lost in the quarterfinals played one additional game on December 8, against each other in the same conference.^[1]

While the knockout stage was played, the 22 teams that did not qualify for the knockout stage each played two additional regular season games, one home and one away, to complete each team's 82 game regular season schedule. Among these 22 total matchups, 20 were intra-conference games, with an attempt by the league to schedule as many pairs of teams which were originally scheduled to only play each other three times during the regular season. The other two matchups were interconference games, as there was an odd number of teams in each conference (11). These two interconference matchups featured four of the six teams that finished last in their respective group.^[1]

Players on teams advancing to the knockout stage will receive prize money as follows:^[2]

• Players on teams that lose in the quarterfinals: $50,000 each
• Players on teams that lose in the semifinals: $100,000 each
• Players on the tournament runner-up team: $200,000 each
• Players on the tournament championship team: $500,000 each

Teams were allocated into five pots per conference based on the 2022–23 regular season standings. Pot 1 contained the teams with the top three regular season records in each conference, while Pot 2 contained the teams with the fourth- to sixth-best records and so forth, concluding with Pot 5, which contained the teams with the bottom three (thirteenth through fifteenth) records.^[1][3]

The initial groups were revealed during the tournament announcement on July 8, 2023.^[4] The five teams in each group were selected by a draw of one team from each of the five pots for the conference in question.

Eastern Conference

Group A	Group B	Group C
Philadelphia 76ers (3) Cleveland Cavaliers (4) Atlanta Hawks (8) Indiana Pacers (11) Detroit Pistons (15)	Milwaukee Bucks (1) New York Knicks (5) Miami Heat (7) Washington Wizards (12) Charlotte Hornets (14)	Boston Celtics (2) Brooklyn Nets (6) Toronto Raptors (9) Chicago Bulls (10) Orlando Magic (13)

Western Conference

Group A	Group B	Group C
Memphis Grizzlies (2) Phoenix Suns (4) Los Angeles Lakers (7) Utah Jazz (12) Portland Trail Blazers (13)	Denver Nuggets (1) Los Angeles Clippers (5) New Orleans Pelicans (9) Dallas Mavericks (11) Houston Rockets (14)	Sacramento Kings (3) Golden State Warriors (6) Minnesota Timberwolves (8) Oklahoma City Thunder (10) San Antonio Spurs (15)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification		IND	CLE	PHI	ATL	DET
1	Indiana Pacers	4	4	0	546	507	+39	Advance to knockout stage		—	121–116	132–126	157–152	136–113
2	Cleveland Cavaliers	4	3	1	474	445	+29			116–121	—	122–119 (OT)	128–105	108–100
3	Philadelphia 76ers	4	2	2	485	476	+9			126–132	119–122 (OT)	—	126–116	114–106
4	Atlanta Hawks	4	1	3	499	531	−32			152–157	105–128	116–126	—	126–120
5	Detroit Pistons	4	0	4	439	484	−45			113–136	100–108	106–114	120–126	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification		MIL	NYK	MIA	CHA	WAS
1	Milwaukee Bucks	4	4	0	502	456	+46	Advance to knockout stage		—	110–105	131–124	130–99	131–128
2	New York Knicks	4	3	1	440	398	+42			105–110	—	100–98	115–91	120–99
3	Miami Heat	4	2	2	454	450	+4			124–131	98–100	—	111–105	121–114
4	Charlotte Hornets	4	1	3	419	473	−54			99–130	91–115	105–111	—	124–117
5	Washington Wizards	4	0	4	458	496	−38			128–131	99–120	114–121	117–124	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification		BOS	ORL	BKN	TOR	CHI
1	Boston Celtics	4	3[a]	1	449	422	+27	Advance to knockout stage		—	96–113	121–107	108–105	124–97
2	Orlando Magic	4	3[a]	1	446	424	+22			113–96	—	104–124	126–107	103–97
3	Brooklyn Nets	4	3[a]	1	455	435	+20			107–121	124–104	—	115–103	109–107
4	Toronto Raptors	4	1	3	436	457	−21			105–108	107–126	103–115	—	121–108
5	Chicago Bulls	4	0	4	409	457	−48			97–124	97–103	107–109	108–121	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification		LAL	PHX	UTA	POR	MEM
1	Los Angeles Lakers	4	4	0	494	420	+74	Advance to knockout stage		—	122–119	131–99	107–95	134–107
2	Phoenix Suns	4	3	1	480	446	+34			119–122	—	131–128	120–107	110–89
3	Utah Jazz	4	2	2	469	482	−13			99–131	128–131	—	115–99	127–121
4	Portland Trail Blazers	4	1	3	416	455	−39			95–107	107–120	99–115	—	115–113 (OT)
5	Memphis Grizzlies	4	0	4	430	486	−56			107–134	89–110	121–127	113–115 (OT)	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification		NOP	HOU	DAL	DEN	LAC
1	New Orleans Pelicans	4	3	1	463	430	+33	Advance to knockout stage		—	101–104	131–110	115–110	116–106
2	Houston Rockets	4	2[a]	2	424	414	+10			104–101	—	115–121	105–86	100–106
3	Dallas Mavericks	4	2[a]	2	489	497	−8			110–131	121–115	—	114–125	144–126
4	Denver Nuggets	4	2[a]	2	432	442	−10			110–115	86–105	125–114	—	111–108
5	Los Angeles Clippers	4	1	3	446	471	−25			106–116	106–100	126–144	108–111	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification		SAC	MIN	GSW	OKC	SAS
1	Sacramento Kings	4	4	0	482	452	+30	Advance to knockout stage		—	124–111	124–123	105–98	129–120
2	Minnesota Timberwolves	4	3	1	438	438	0			111–124	—	104–101	106–103	117–110
3	Golden State Warriors	4	2	2	483	479	+4			123–124	101–104	—	141–139	118–112
4	Oklahoma City Thunder	4	1	3	463	439	+24			98–105	103–106	139–141	—	123–87
5	San Antonio Spurs	4	0	4	429	487	−58			120–129	110–117	112–118	87–123	—

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification
1	B	New York Knicks	4	3	1	440	398	+42	Advance to knockout stage
2	A	Cleveland Cavaliers	4	3	1	474	445	+29
3	C	Orlando Magic	4	3	1	446	424	+22

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification
1	A	Phoenix Suns	4	3	1	480	446	+34	Advance to knockout stage
2	C	Minnesota Timberwolves	4	3	1	438	438	0
3	B	Houston Rockets	4	2	2	424	414	+10

Home team listed first (quarterfinals only).

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Championship game
	December 5 – Milwaukee, WI
	1 Milwaukee	146
					December 7 – Las Vegas, NV
	4 New York	122
					1 Milwaukee	119
	December 4 – Indianapolis, IN
					2 Indiana	128
	2 Indiana	122
									December 9 – Las Vegas, NV
	3 Boston	112
									E2 Indiana	109
	December 5 – Los Angeles, CA
									W1 LA Lakers	123
	1 LA Lakers	106
					December 7 – Las Vegas, NV
	4 Phoenix	103
					1 LA Lakers	133
	December 4 – Sacramento, CA
					3 New Orleans	89
	2 Sacramento	117
	3 New Orleans	127

Source:^[5]

Note: Times are Eastern Standard Time (UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.

During the Kings-Pelicans game on December 4, a 34-year-old Kings fan named Gregorio "Greg" Florez Breedlove had a medical emergency during the first quarter of that game and died 20 minutes after emergency medical services arrived to try and help him out.^[6][7] A day later, during the Suns-Lakers game on December 5, the game's conclusion was met with serious controversy due to a controversial timeout that was given to the Lakers by the referees near the end of the game despite the Lakers not holding possession of the ball at the time the timeout was called.^[8][9][10] However, according to commissioner Adam Silver, it was considered the right call by the notion that Austin Reaves had his left hand on the ball while pinned under his left leg before it got loosened up again.^[11]

Buddy Hield of Indiana scored the game's first basket when he hit a three-pointer. However, the Lakers quickly took control of the first quarter and led 20–15 after six minutes. After one frame, the Lakers led 34–29 with 26 points coming inside the paint.^[12] The teams went into half-time with a 65–60 advantage for Los Angeles.

The second half opened up with a LeBron James and-one play, and the Lakers quickly captured a 10-point lead. Despite cutting the lead to a five-point lead at one point, the Pacers went into the fourth quarter trailing 90–82.^[12]

The final quarter saw the Pacers crawl back into the game, cutting the lead down to two with 10:30 to go. However, Indiana was unable to keep up with the Lakers offense and were trailing by ten points with four and a half minutes left. Indiana center Myles Turner fouled out after fouling Anthony Davis and picking up his sixth foul, with 4:09 to go in the game. Davis scored 10 straight points as part of the 13–0 run that gave the Lakers a 16-point lead with 3:11 remaining in the game.^[13] By then, the Lakers comfortably played the game out. The Lakers dominated the Pacers inside, edging them with an 86–44 edge in points in the paint.^[13]

The Lakers became the first team to win the NBA Cup. Anthony Davis finished with 41 points on 16-for-24 shooting, 20 rebounds and 4 blocks;^[13] his performance was widely praised as a "masterpiece",^[14] with James describing it as a "Shaq-like performance".^[15] Davis became the first player in 36 years to record 40+ points, 20+ rebounds, 5+ assists and 4+ blocks,^[15] and was the third Laker to achieve this feat following Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain.^[16] Tyrese Haliburton finished with 20 points and 11 assists, while Bennedict Mathurin scored 20 as well.^[12]

Starters: Pts Reb Ast G 0 Tyrese Haliburton 20 1 11 G 11 Bruce Brown Jr. 4 2 1 F 7 Buddy Hield 8 5 4 F 1 Obi Toppin 13 2 0 C 33 Myles Turner 10 7 1 Reserves: G/F 00 Bennedict Mathurin 20 2 0 F 22 Isaiah Jackson 10 5 0 G/F 23 Aaron Nesmith 15 3 1 G 9 T. J. McConnell 8 4 9 F 5 Jarace Walker 0 0 0 G 21 Isaiah Wong 0 0 0 G/F 10 Kendall Brown 0 0 0 G 26 Ben Sheppard 0 0 0 C 44 Oscar Tshiebwe 0 1 0 F 13 Jordan Nwora DNP Head coach: Rick Carlisle

Indiana Los Angeles 0 Indiana Statistics[17] Los Angeles 35/96 (36.8%) Field goals 47/88 (53.4%) 10/41 (24.4%) 3-point field goals 2/13 (15.4%) 29/33 (87.9%) Free throws 27/35 (77.1%) 9 Offensive rebounds 12 23 Defensive rebounds 43 32 Total rebounds 55 27 Assists 25 7 Turnovers 18 10 Steals 5 7 Blocks 10 33 Fouls 25 44 Points in the paint 86 18 Fast break points 21 3 Biggest lead 16 54 Bench points 30 8 Points off turnovers 21

Starters: Pts Reb Ast G 1 D'Angelo Russell 13 4 7 G 12 Taurean Prince 6 3 2 F 5 Cam Reddish 9 3 1 F 23 LeBron James 24 11 4 C 3 Anthony Davis 41 20 5 Reserves: F 28 Rui Hachimura 0 2 0 F 2 Jarred Vanderbilt 0 4 1 G 15 Austin Reaves 28 2 3 G 10 Max Christie 2 2 1 F/C 11 Jaxson Hayes 0 4 1 G 0 Jalen Hood-Schifino 0 0 0 F 21 Maxwell Lewis 0 0 0 F/C 35 Christian Wood DNP Head coach: Darvin Ham

The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA Cup. LeBron James won the inaugural Most Valuable Player award, following his averages of 26.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists, while shooting 56.8% from the field and 60.6% on threes.^[18] On December 11, the NBA announced the All-Tournament Team.^[13]

All-NBA In-Season Tournament Team^[13]

Pos.	Player	Team
G	Tyrese Haliburton	Indiana Pacers
F	Giannis Antetokounmpo	Milwaukee Bucks
F	Kevin Durant	Phoenix Suns
F	LeBron James (MVP)	Los Angeles Lakers
C	Anthony Davis	Los Angeles Lakers

On October 25, one week before the start of group play the NBA debuted "The Heist," a series of short films used to promote the tournament.^[19] "The Heist" features seven NBA all-stars: Anthony Davis, Demar Derozan, Darius Garland, Draymond Green, Kawhi Leonard, Julius Randle, Trae Young and Emmy winning actor Michael Imperioli attempting to take the NBA Cup trophy from a Las Vegas casino.

The official anthem for the tournament was a re-recorded version of "Mama Said Knock You Out" by LL Cool J combined with The Roots "Here I Come."^[20][21] The song was prominently featured in promotional videos for the tournament. The Anthem was played before the start of each game throughout the group stage and knockout rounds.

The group stage of the tournament was covered by the NBA's existing broadcasters.

In national linear television broadcasts in the United States, TNT had selected Tuesday games, ESPN aired selected Friday games, and NBA TV had two on Friday, November 24.^[22] Most group stage games were instead only televised locally by the teams' regional broadcasters.^[23][24][25] During the knockout stage, TNT aired all four quarterfinals in prime time^[26] on December 4 and 5. For the semifinals on December 7, ESPN televised the early game and TNT had the late game. The championship game aired on ABC in prime time on December 9.^[27][28]

TruTV also aired three alternative telecasts of quarterfinal and semifinal games that air on TNT during the knockout round.

The championship game was the first year of a two year deal that saw the game broadcast on ABC (including local stations KABC-TV in Los Angeles and WRTV in Indianapolis). The game was the most-viewed game of the season with 4.58 million viewers. It was also the most-watched non-Christmas regular season game since 2018.^[29] ESPN2 also aired an alternate telecast for the championship game on December 9.^[30]

All TNT's games were streamed on Max including two exclusive alternate telecast of quarterfinal games on December 5.^[24] NBA League Pass offered out-of-market group stage games, as well as live access to NBA TV's games.^[25]

In Canada, national coverage of all Toronto Raptors games and other selected games were split between TSN, Sportsnet, and NBA TV Canada.^[31][32]

Ahead of the semifinals, ESPN and TNT announced that their broadcast teams would collaborate on each other's coverage. For ESPN, TNT's Reggie Miller joined Mike Breen, Doris Burke and Lisa Salters, while on TNT, ESPN's Doc Rivers joined Kevin Harlan, Candace Parker and Allie LaForce. TNT's Inside the NBA (including NBA Tip-off) studio team of Ernie Johnson Jr., Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal also collaborated with their ESPN counterparts, the NBA Countdown studio team of Malika Andrews, Stephen A. Smith, Michael Wilbon, Bob Myers and Adrian Wojnarowski, during the other network's coverage. Specifically, it was announced that the Inside the NBA team would appear on NBA Countdown while Smith and Wilbon would appear on Inside the NBA.^[33][34]

Commissioner Adam Silver told in a press conference after the championship game that he was satisfied with the inaugural In-Season Tournament and is open to changes to the format, including the tie-breakers in the group play and the alternate colored courts that were used during the tournament.^[35]

On December 19, the Lakers celebrated their win by hanging a championship banner in the Crypto.com Arena to honour their In-Season Tournament victory, ahead of their regular season game against the New York Knicks.^[36][37]

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