With a regular season record of 2 wins and 2 losses, the Chicago Bulls will kick off the 2023 NBA Inaugural In-Season Tournament on Friday, November 3, versus the Brooklyn Nets at the UC.
According to the Chicago Bulls, the first ever In-Season Tournament will see the Bulls battling East Group C in pool play for the chance to win the NBA Cup.
Tournament Nights will take place throughout November, with all games counting for regular season standings. 30 teams compete, 8 teams advance, one is crowned Champion. Bulls In-Season Tournament games are presented by motorola razr+.
The Semifinals will take place on Thursday, December 7, and the Championship will take place at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, December 9, in Nevada. The In-Season Tournament will consist of two stages: Group Play and the Knockout Rounds.
Group Play will consist of all 30 teams that have been randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on won-loss records from the 2022-23 regular season. Beginning Nov. 3 and continuing through Tuesday, Nov. 28, each team will play four designated Group Play games on “Tournament Nights” – one game against each opponent in its group, with two games at home and two on the road.
The Knockout Rounds
The event will feature eight teams who will advance to the Knockout Rounds: the team with the best standing in Group Play games in each of the six groups and two “wild cards” (the team from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group).
The Knockout Rounds will also be single-elimination games in the Quarterfinals (played in NBA team markets on Monday, Dec. 4 and Tuesday, Dec. 5), Semifinals and Championship.
The qualifying teams will compete for a prize pool and the new In-Season Tournament trophy, the NBA Cup.
All 67 games across both stages of the In-Season Tournament will count toward the regular-season standings except the Championship. Each team will continue to play 82 regular-season games in the 2023-24 season, including those games that are part of Group Play and the Knockout Rounds.
Fourteen Group Play games (two games on each Tournament Night) and all seven Knockout Round games will be televised nationally. The game and broadcast schedule for the In-Season Tournament will determine each team’s opponents in the Group Play games, 15 teams in each conference were divided into three groups of five teams via a random drawing. The groups are below for the December 7 and 9 event in Nevada.
(EAST ) Group A: Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons. Group B: Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Washington and Charlotte Hornets. Group C: Boston Celtics Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls and Orlando.
(EAST ) Group A: Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, L.A. Lakers, and the Utah Jazz. Group B: Denver Nuggets, L.A. Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, and the Houston Rockets. Group C: Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs.
Before the drawing, each team was placed into a “pot” based on its record from the prior regular season (2022-23). In each conference, one team from each pot was randomly selected into each of the three groups in that conference.
The pots were as follows: Pot 1: The teams with the three best prior-season records in a conference. Pot 2: The teams with the fourth- through sixth-best prior-season records. Pot 3: The teams with the seventh- through ninth-best prior-season records. Pot 4: The teams with the 10th-through 12th-best prior-season records. Pot 5: The teams with the 13th-through 15th-best prior-season records.
Joseph Phillips is the Sports Editor for the Chicago Crusader Newspaper. He is a Chicago native, who has been a sports writer for over 17 years. He also hosts the SC Media News and Sports Network Q&A radio show on WHPK 88.5 FM Chicago.
