The 2024-25 NBA season has been over for a few weeks, with the Oklahoma City Thunder being crowned the winners, but don’t forget about the other champs.
Earlier in the campaign, the Milwaukee Bucks won the second annual in-season Emirates NBA Cup, and now the league has announced the groups for the 2025 re-up.
Sticking with the defending champs, they’ll be going up against the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Hornets, and Miami Heat. It’ll be tough for the Bucks to run it back with some major roster changes, like the absence of Damian Lillard, picking up Myles Turner, and the uncertain future of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The in-season competition tips off on October 31 with group play continuing through November 28. Then, the quarterfinals will be December 9 and 10, and the semifinals will soon follow on December 13 in Las Vegas. Finally, the championship game will also be held in Vegas on December 16, and while it will be highly competitive, it won’t count towards either team’s regular season record or statistics.
For a quick explainer on the workings of the, Cup each group is made up of five teams from the same conference, randomly drawn based on their standings from last season. During group play, each team will play one game against each of the other four teams in their group. The teams that finish with the best record in each group qualify for the Knockouts. Then they’re joined by two wild-card teams, which are the second-best performing group-play teams from each conference.
The schedule will be released later this summer, in August, alongside the regular season schedule. However, you can check out the rest of the groups below.
East Group A – Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards
East Group B – Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers
East Group C – Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Charlotte Hornets
West Group A – Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz
West Group B – L.A. Lakers, LA Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks, New Orleans Pelicans
West Group C – Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs.
