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NBA reveals Suns’ group for 2024-25 NBA Cup

© Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

PHOENIX — The NBA has released the groups for the second annual Emirates NBA Cup for the 2024-25 season.

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The Phoenix Suns were placed in West Group B with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs for the 2024-25 NBA Cup, formerly known as the In-Season Tournament.

The two most notable teams in this group are the Thunder and Lakers. OKC finished as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference last season and reloaded this offseason by adding Isaiah Hartenstein. The Lakers won the first-ever tournament last season and defeated Phoenix twice en route to the championship.

Phoenix will also play against its former point guard Chris Paul and last year’s Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs and Jazz figure to be the weakest teams from this group.

Here is how the other two groups from the stacked Western Conference shaped out:

The four games against the teams from the Suns’ group during the tournament will be known as “Cup Nights” and take place on Tuesday and Friday nights from Nov. 12 – Dec. 3. Each of these four games will still count toward a team’s regular-season record.

Eight teams across the league will advance to the knockout round—four from each conference. This means the three group winners from each conference will advance and so will one wildcard team.

According to nba.com, in the event that two or more teams tie with the same record whether in groups or by wild card, the tie among the teams will be broken according to the following tiebreakers (in sequential order): 

  1. Head-to-head record in Group Play
  2. Point differential in Group Play
  3. Total points scored in Group Play
  4. Record from the 2023-24 NBA regular season
  5. Random drawing (in the unlikely scenario that two or more teams are still tied following the previous tiebreakers)

The four teams that advance from each conference will move onto the single-elimination knockout stage. The quarterfinals will take place on Dec. 10-11 and be hosted by the two teams with the best record in Group Play games with the team with best record from each conference hosting the wildcard team. Teams that win will progress to the neutral-site semifinals in Las Vegas on Dec. 14, and then the championship on Dec. 17. 

The 22 teams that do not qualify for the Knockout Rounds will each play two regular-season games when the NBA Cup games aren’t scheduled (Dec. 12-13 and Dec. 15-16). The losing teams from the Quarterfinals in each conference will play each other in a regular-season game on Dec. 12, 13, 15 or 16. 

Last season, the Suns were in a group with the Lakers, Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies. Phoenix lost its first matchup against the Lakers, who went undefeated in group play to won the group and advance, and then won its next three games against the remaining teams. Despite the Lakers winning the group, Phoenix advanced to the quarterfinals as a wildcard team, as it had a larger point differential than any other team from other groups that finished with a 3-1 record and didn’t win its group.

The Suns then lost in the quarterfinals to the Lakers, who would go on to win the inaugural tournament over the Indiana Pacers.

Video Recap: Lakers Eliminate Suns from In-Season Tournament

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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau

 

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