The group play portion of the 2025 NBA Cup, released this week, offers some intriguing matchups on the early docket.
The ultimate in-season reindeer games are set to be staged this late fall/early winter, as the NBA posted the first instructions on how to buck the Milwaukee Bucks from their active perch as in-season champions.
With its offseason in full swing, the Association revealed who will play who in preliminary group events during the third annual NBA Cup in-season tournament. Holiday bookends will define the slate, as such games will get underway on Halloween and will run through Black Friday before the knockout portions are staged amidst Christmas preparations.
The Milwaukee Bucks are the defending champions of the 2024 in-season tournament, taking over the spot the Los Angeles Lakers earned in the inaugural edition one year prior.
While the purpose and value of the NBA Cup has been tightly debated and questioned, it can be argued that a win in the early showdown provides some sort of meaning for up-and-coming teams seeking to clear their throats and make a statement for the more-desired tournament that lingers in the spring. Whether the statement is sought by a doubtful contender or a new entrant seeking to throw its hat in the championship ring remains to be seen, but the six groups revealed earlier this week have plenty of matchups that feature both.
With the path to in-season glory officially paved, which landmarks stand as the most dangerous? BallIsLife highlights the top matchup from each group.
East Group A: Cleveland Cavaliers @ Atlanta Hawks
The Cleveland Cavaliers have been more than happy to quietly tread water amidst Eastern Conference chaos: the growing list of long-term injuries and teardowns among the other contenders has pushed a disappointing finish to a historic season to the backburner of hardwood attention and the East’s regular season winners atoned for the potential loss of Darius Garland by adding Lonzo Ball in a trade with Chicago.
The Atlanta Hawks, on the other hand, are trying to salvage the Trae Young era by taking advantage of the revamped conference playoff picture, adding Boston champion Kristaps Porzingis and trading up to select Derik Queen (which cost them next year’s first-round pick). The Cup will mean a little more to each side: Cleveland will look for some form of validation that last year’s run was no fluke, while the Hawks (who collapsed after earning a trip to Vegas in last season’s IST) have a chance to earn some positive early returns on their risky splurging.
East Group B: Boston Celtics @ Orlando Magic
No matter your thoughts on the Orlando Magic’s surprising Desmond Bane gambit, one has to credit them for making a seismic move while the Eastern iron is hot. That’s partly thanks to the Jayson Tatum-less Boston Celtics, who have engaged in a mini-renovation that has opened the East up a little and already bid farewell to Porzingis and Jrue Holiday. The fate of other recent mainstays and Larry O’Brien Trophy hoisters like Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Derrick White is still in limbo as of press time.
The Magic don’t get to rise into the spotlight often, often propelled by draft night fortunes like Shaquille O’Neal, Dwight Howard, and Paolo Banchero. While Banchero, unlike O’Neal, has shown some willingness to stick around in Central Florida for a while, it’s time for some progress beyond competitive showings against the mainstream contenders. Winning a group that features a Celtics team treading uncertain waters and other statement-seeking squads (Brooklyn, Detroit, Philadelphia) would be a positive step forward and re-assure at least some critics of the risky Bane gambit.
East Group C: Milwaukee Bucks @ New York Knicks
If you’re into NBA Cup history, the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks are the only teams to reach the knockout round in each of the first two editions of the in-season competition. Both are at crucial points on their respective franchise timelines and another such appearance would be validation that they’re heading in the right directions.
The group seems tailor-made for the Knicks, another team that has kept a static starting five, to win but defending early-winter winner Milwaukee will be hungry for any form of early momentum after they were summarily dismissed by the Indiana Pacers in yet another opening round. Time will tell which side of the equation that Giannis Antetokounmpo is on, as the tenured Bucks superstar didn’t exactly stifle talk of a trade to Manhattan in comments to internet personality IShowSpeed. In an attempt to appease Antetokounmpo, the Bucks added the similarly-skilled Myles Turner, who has played a major role in each of the Knicks’ past two postseason vanquishings at the hands of the aforementioned Pacers.
The groups are set for the Emirates NBA Cup 2025.
All 30 NBA teams were randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on win-loss records from the 2024-25 regular season.
The groups are available below. pic.twitter.com/ZZVUwtp3fO
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) July 9, 2025
West Group A: Minnesota Timberwolves @ Oklahoma City Thunder
Amidst a trio of rebuilders rises a Western Conference Finals rematch that no doubt stands as the class of the series.
Unlike most of the squads chasing them, both teams come looking similar to the ones that lingered among the NBA’s final four last year before the Thunder’s eventual triumph and each will have a lot to prove as they seek a return trip. Their offseasons to date have instead been defined by re-upping with what they have: the Timberwolves re-upped with Julius Randle and Naz Reid (as well as October’s new payday for Rudy Gobert) while the Thunder has kept its championship core together with paychecks due to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams.
West Group B: Dallas Mavericks @ LA Lakers
Amidst a year of drastically declining public perception, everything’s starting to trend in Nico Harrison’s direction: his Dallas Mavericks landed the top pick in the NBA Draft (obviously used on Cooper Flagg), Luka Doncic’s Lakers were a first-round afterthought, and the Slovenian’s fellow SoCal franchise face LeBron James is reportedly displeased with the way the Doncic deal was handled.
A decent showing in the NBA Cup be a good way for the Mavericks to offer some form of assurance that Harrison’s vision is the way to go, but the Lakers could use that vindication as well. Los Angeles, of course, was the original winner of the in-season competition, taking down the Pacers in Sin City back in December 2023.
West Group C: Denver Nuggets @ Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets were in one of the most awkward, if not winnable, situations among last year’s NBA contenders: while the team lost to the aging Golden State Warriors as a second seed, it was generally accepted that last year’s group consisting primarily of homegrown talents was ahead of schedule and earned a mulligan against a recent champion. The same bittersweet luxury won’t be afforded to them this time around, as the Rockets splurged for seasoned superstar Kevin Durant, sacrificing two of last year’s primary architects (Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green) to the Phoenix Suns.
Houston will get to see the Warriors again in Group C, but facing against a truer, more recent contender in Denver will be a better chance to see where they stand. The Denver Nuggets, who took eventual champion Oklahoma City to the brink after the shocking ousting of Michael Malone, have kept busy this season by adding Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cameron Johnson to Nikola Jokic’s fold. The Rockets added Durant to put up an established superstar in the top-heavy West and going up against the Nuggets in group play will be a highly-anticipated early test.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
