Myles Turner thinks part of the reason the Indiana Pacers became a team capable of making a deep playoff run this past season was because of the in-season tournament.
And he can’t wait for Round 2.
Group play pools for the second edition of the tournament — now renamed the Emirates NBA Cup — were released by the NBA on Friday. The event will start Nov. 12 and runs through a championship game in Las Vegas on Dec. 17.
The Los Angeles Lakers beat Indiana in last year’s inaugural tournament final, capping an event where the league used different court designs and uniforms — in part to make sure viewers knew these games, while all part of the regular season, were supposed to have a different feel and meaning.
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“It got eyes on us as a unit,” Turner said. “We don’t get a lot of TV games, so that exposure was good for not only ourselves, but just the city itself. Really helped us throughout the season as well. We got some real positive momentum from it.”
At stake: the trophy, and cash.
Players on the winning team will claim $514,971 each, while $205,988 goes to each player on the runner-up team, $102,994 to players whose teams lost in the semifinals and $51,497 to those players whose team lost in the quarterfinals.
“The feedback from players was that it was competitive last year,” said CJ McCollum, the New Orleans guard and president of the National Basketball Players Association. “The jersey changes and the different courts matter. The fact that you’ll be competing for something outside of what you normally compete for throughout a season, a chance to win a trophy in the middle of the season is good and obviously, the financial implications also made a difference. All in all, guys just like to compete.”
The league is designating seven dates as “Cup Nights,” those coming Nov. 12, Nov. 15, Nov. 19, Nov. 22, Nov. 26, Nov. 29 and Dec. 3. Teams will play Cup games on four of those seven nights, one each against the other teams in its group.
Quarterfinals will be played Dec. 10 and 11. The semifinals are in Las Vegas on Dec. 14, followed by the championship game three nights later.
Every game counted in the regular season standings last season — except the championship game, which was technically an 83rd game for the two finalists.
“When you give them something to compete for, it makes it that much more entertaining,” McCollum said.
East Group A
Teams: New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Charlotte.
Analysis: The deepest group in the East side, at least up top, with three very good teams in the Knicks, Magic and 76ers leading the way.
East Group B
Teams: Milwaukee, Indiana, Miami, Toronto, Detroit.
Analysis: This is the tournament that showed what Indiana is capable of last season, and it’s reasonable to think the Pacers will take it pretty seriously once again.
East Group C
Teams: Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington.
Analysis: The defending champion Celtics get home games with Cleveland and Atlanta, then have road games in Washington and Chicago — two teams that are likely to be in rebuild mode.
West Group A
Teams: Minnesota, LA Clippers, Sacramento, Houston, Portland.
Analysis: Another group where three — or maybe even four — teams can say they expect to win the group and reach the quarterfinals.
West Group B
Teams: Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Los Angeles Lakers, Utah, San Antonio.
Analysis: The toughest group on paper. The Thunder, Suns and defending in-season tournament champion Lakers all expect to be good, and the Spurs are going to be much better this coming season than they were in Victor Wembanyama‘s rookie year.
West Group C
Teams: Denver, Dallas, New Orleans, Golden State, Memphis.
Analysis: The full schedule isn’t out yet and isn’t expected until next month, but one game certainly catches the eye — Dallas at Golden State, date TBA, in what could be former Warriors guard Klay Thompson’s first game in the Bay as a visitor.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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