The NBA In-Season Tournament was a hit in its inaugural season. It quickly turned everyone’s attention, including those playing at the NBA betting sites, such as Bovada (check our Bovada Review).
We’ll talk about the basics of the NBA In-Season Tournament and who won the Tournament in its first year.
What Is The NBA In-Season Tournament?
The NBA In-Season Tournament is a new annual competition that began this year. The In-Season Tournament had group play and knockout rounds to decide which teams advanced into the quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship.
Teams were incentivized with money and an NBA Cup trophy. It was a major hit.
The NBA noticed that viewership wasn’t very high to start the season. Therefore, they decided to put together an exciting tournament that would get more fans talking about the game before January.
It worked out well for the NBA.
Below, I’ll explain how the entire NBA In-Season Tournament worked and recap the results that occurred in the first season of the event.
How The NBA In-Season Tournament Works
The NBA In-Season Tournament featured all 30 teams in the NBA. Those 30 teams were randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference.
With six groups of five, there were three groups featuring teams in the Eastern Conference and three groups featuring teams in the Western Conference.
To begin the group stage, the NBA chose random nights to designate “Tournament Nights.” On Tournament Nights, while the games counted for the regular season, they also counted for the group stage portion of the Tournament. If fans weren’t aware of the Tournament, the colorful court gave it away.
The NBA changed the courts for a Tournament feel that popped out to the eyes compared to the normal courts in the NBA.
Anyway, the Tournament Nights began on November 3rd and went through November 28. Each team played four games in the group stage throughout the month, with two games at home and two games on the road.
The Knockout Rounds
Once each team finished their four games, the NBA took the team with the best record in their group and threw them into the next round. They also added two wildcard teams from each conference that had the best record in a group where they finished second.
The Knockout Stage was a single-elimination game. The tournament went from the quarterfinals to the semifinals, to the Finals.
By December 9, five weeks after the group stage play, the NBA crowned a winner.
Prizing and League Honors
The winning team of the NBA In-Season Tournament earns a $500K prize for every member of the team. Meanwhile, the NBA is mulling the potential of adding even more prizes next season.
The league also decided to name a Most Valuable Player and an All-Tournament Team based on performances in the Group Play Stage and Knockout Rounds.
Who Won In 2023-’24?
After all 30 teams played four games in the Group Play stage, the Elite Eight of the Tournament included these eight teams.
EAST CONFERENCE
- Bucks (East #1, Group B winner)
- Pacers (East #2, Group A winner)
- Celtics (East #3, Group C winner)
- Knicks (East #4, Wild Card)
WEST CONFERENCE
- Lakers (West #1, Group A winner)
- Kings (West #2, Group C winner)
- Pelicans (West #3, Group B winner)
- Suns (West #4, Wild Card)
Those eight teams played in the single-elimination knockout rounds.
With the first two games of the Knockout Stage, the Pacers earned a win over the Celtics, while the Pelicans knocked off the Kings.
On the second night, the Bucks dominated the Knicks, while the Lakers escaped the Suns.
From there, the Lakers earned a win over the Pelicans, and the Pacers defeated the Bucks to earn a spot in the NBA In-Season Tournament Championship.
In the Championship, Anthony Davis scored 41 points for the Lakers to earn the NBA’s first Gold Cup trophy.
LeBron James won the MVP of the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament.
Stat Leaders
LeBron James won the MVP of the tournament with 26.4 points per game. He also added eight rebounds and 7.6 assists while shooting 56.8% from the field. The Lakers never lost a game during their tournament run, going 7-0 in that span.
The All-Tournament team included James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, and Tyrese Haliburton.
Was The NBA In-Season Tournament A Success?
It was already released that the NBA In-Season Tournament Championship Game set a ratings mark that hasn’t been seen in nearly six years.
The Lakers-Pacers NBA In-Season Tournament Championship averaged 4.58 million viewers on a Saturday night. At one point, the game peaked at 5.68 million viewers. That’s 46% more than last year’s season-opening game.
The Tournament was a hit because of the incentives. The Lakers players and coach received a $500,000 bonus. Meanwhile, Pacers players and coaches received $200,000.
The Lakers are already holding a banner in their home arena.
Meanwhile, the NBA is still focused on improving the Tournament and will likely make some changes to the Tournament for next year. But it’s safe to say that the Tournament will stay moving forward.
