The NBA announced Tuesday its schedule for the group stage games of its inaugural in-season tournament, which will see the NBA Cup handed out for the first time in Las Vegas on Dec.
9 on ESPN. The new tournament will be a proving ground for the league's newest star, as Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs have more nationally televised games (three) than any other team during the four-game group stage of the tournament, which will take place across the month of November.
So what, exactly, is the NBA Cup? How will the tournament work? Why is it happening? What is the NBA hoping to get out of it?
With those questions in mind, here's what we know, and don't know, about the NBA's in-season tournament: NBA commissioner Adam Silver has wanted to implement it for years, for a variety of reasons.