NBA announces a Play In Tournament for next year

2023 In-Season Tournament: Results of group drawing

The inaugural tournament will tip off Nov. 3 and culminate with the championship on Dec. 9.

Official release
July 8, 2023 7:42 PM

In-Season Tournament Group Play

All 30 teams have been randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on won-loss records from the 2022-23 regular season for the 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament. Each team will play four designated Group Play games – one game against each opponent in its group, with two games at home and two on the road.

The results of the drawing and the groups for the In-Season Tournament are as follows:

Western Conference

West Group A

• Memphis Grizzlies
• Phoenix Suns
• L.A. Lakers
• Utah Jazz
• Portland Trail Blazers

West Group B

• Denver Nuggets
• LA Clippers
• New Orleans Pelicans
• Dallas Mavericks
• Houston Rockets

West Group C

• Sacramento Kings
• Golden State Warriors
• Minnesota Timberwolves
• Oklahoma City Thunder
• San Antonio Spurs

Eastern Conference

East Group A

• Philadelphia 76ers
• Cleveland Cavaliers
• Atlanta Hawks
• Indiana Pacers
• Detroit Pistons

East Group B

• Milwaukee Bucks
• New York Knicks
• Miami Heat
• Washington Wizards
• Charlotte Hornets

East Group C

• Boston Celtics
• Brooklyn Nets
• Toronto Raptors
• Chicago Bulls
• Orlando Magic

Group Play games will be played on “Tournament Nights,” which will take place every Tuesday and Friday from Nov. 3-28 (with the exception of Election Day on Nov. 7). The only NBA games played on Tournament Nights will be Group Play games.

Before the Group Play draw, 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. Pot 1 had the teams with the three best prior-season records in a conference, Pot 2 had the teams with the fourth- through sixth-best prior-season records in a conference, and so on through Pot 5.

Eight teams will advance to the Knockout Rounds: the team with the best standing in Group Play games in each of the six groups and one “wild card” team from each conference. The wild card will be the team from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group.

So now, all Tuesday and Friday games in November have "extra meaning" and still count as regular season games. The rest of the regular season schedule will be built around these games.

I'll still only watch the Celtics games, so I must not be the target audience.

dbrown,

The Tuesday/Friday games in November will count as part of the regular season 82 games.  There are six nights in November that will now be “Tournament Nights”.  Those games get placed into the schedule first (4 per team, 1 each against the other 4 teams in your group), then the rest of the NBA schedule (78 per team) is created around those games.  

I believe that extra games come into play for the 8 team single elimination tournament (3 Knockout Rounds) in early December.  Rounds of 8, then 4, then 2 (finals) could add up to three extra non-regular season games to the two teams in the finals.

That means that this season, we will need to play at least 101 games to reach the goal of winning both championships in the same season, in the inaugural season.

Epicness is on its way!!  History making excitement!!  

Can't you feel it?  (LOL)

I find it odd that they picked November.  That is too early, IMO.  January is better.  Closer to mid-season, no competition with the holiday season, completed before all-star break, etc.