Not many times in NBA history would a game in November be viewed as a “must win.” But a few teams face elimination from the NBA In-Season Tournament if they lose on Tuesday.
Who’s moving on? Who’s out?
The Pacers and Los Angeles Lakers have qualified for the Knockout Round, which is Dec. 4 and Dec. 5 at the home of the higher-seeded teams. Since the Lakers went 4-0 in group play, they will likely have one of those home sites.
Eliminated going into Tuesday’s games: the Detroit Pistons, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Memphis Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.
The six group winners and two wild cards make the Knockout Round. The wild cards will be the two best second-place finishers, most likely teams with 3-1 records and strong point differentials.
Group play schedule
Tuesday, Nov. 28
| Group | Match-Up | Time (ET) | TV |
| East B | Milwaukee Bucks vs. Miami Heat | 7:30 p.m. | TNT |
| East C | Chicago Bulls vs. Boston Celtics | 7:30 p.m. | League Pass |
| East C | Toronto Raptors vs. Brooklyn Nets | 7:30 p.m. | League Pass |
| East A | Atlanta Hawks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers | 7:30 p.m. | League Pass |
| East B | Charlotte Hornets vs. New York Knicks | 7:30 p.m. | League Pass |
| West C | Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Minnesota Timberwolves | 8 p.m. | League Pass |
| West B | Houston Rockets vs. Dallas Mavericks | 8 p.m. | League Pass |
| West C | Golden State Warriors vs. Sacramento Kings | 10 p.m. | TNT |
Is this a simple, win and get in situation on Tuesday?
Well, not exactly.
There are some games where it’s simple — if Milwaukee beats Miami, the Bucks win the East B group; If Houston beats Dallas, the Rockets clinch the West B group; if Sacramento beats Golden State, the Kings win the West C group.
That’s where the simple ends.
Here are the scenarios going into Tuesday’s games:
East Group A
Atlanta clinches a wild card if the Hawks win, New York loses to Charlotte, Miami loses to Milwaukee, Boston loses to Atlanta and Toronto loses to Brooklyn.
Cleveland clinches a wild card if the Cavaliers win, the Knicks lose to Charlotte, Miami loses to Milwaukee, Boston loses to Atlanta and Brooklyn loses to Toronto.
-OR- Cleveland beats Atlanta and wins the tiebreaker over any second-place team from other groups with a 3-1 record.
East Group B
Charlotte gets one of the wild cards if it beats the Knicks, Cleveland loses to Atlanta, Miami loses to Milwaukee, Boston loses to Chicago and Brooklyn loses to Toronto.
New York wins Group B if the Knicks beat Charlotte and Milwaukee loses to Miami.
New York gets a wild card if the Knicks beat Charlotte, Miami loses to Milwaukee, Cleveland loses to Atlanta, Boston loses to Chicago and Brooklyn loses to Toronto.
-OR- The Knicks beat Charlotte and finishes second in the group and wins the tiebreaker over any second-place team from other groups with a 3-1 record.
-OR- Miami loses to Milwaukee, Cleveland loses to Atlanta, Boston loses to Chicago and Brooklyn loses to Toronto.
Milwaukee clinches Group B if the Bucks beat Miami.
-OR- The Knicks beat Charlotte.
Milwaukee clinches a wild card if the Knicks lose to Charlotte, Cleveland loses to Atlanta, Boston loses to Chicago and Brooklyn loses to Toronto.
-OR- Milwaukee finishes second in group and wins the tiebreaker over any second-place team from other groups with a 3-1 record.
Miami clinches Group B if the Heat beats Milwaukee and the Knicks lose to Charlotte.
-OR- Miami wins and wins the tiebreaker over Milwaukee and New York.
Miami clinches a wild card if the Heat wins, Cleveland loses to Atlanta, Boston loses to Chicago and Brooklyn loses to Toronto.
-OR- Miami wins and finishes second in the group and wins the tiebreaker over any second-place team from other groups with a 3-1 record.
-OR- Cleveland loses to Atlanta, New York loses to Charlotte, Boston loses to Chicago and Brooklyn loses to Toronto.
East Group C
Brooklyn clinches Group C if the Nets win and Boston loses to Atlanta.
-OR- Brooklyn beats Toronto and wins the tiebreaker over Boston and Orlando.
Brooklyn clinches the wild card if the Nets win, Cleveland loses to Atlanta, the Knicks lose to Charlotte and Miami loses to Milwaukee.
-OR- Brooklyn wins and finishes second in the group and wins the tiebreaker over any second-place team from other groups with a 3-1 record.
Boston clinches Group C if the Celtics win and Brooklyn loses to Toronto.
Boston clinches the wild card if the Celtics win, Brooklyn loses to Toronto, the Knicks lose to Charlotte, Miami loses to Milwaukee and Cleveland loses to Atlanta.
-OR- Boston wins and finishes second in the group and wins the tiebreaker over any second-place team from other groups with a 3-1 record.
-OR- Cleveland loses to Atlanta, the Knicks lose to Charlotte, Miami loses to Milwaukee and Brooklyn loses to Toronto.
Orlando clinches Group C if Brooklyn loses to Toronto.
-OR- Boston beats Chicago and Orlando wins the tiebreaker over Brooklyn and Boston.
Orlando clinches a wild card if Boston loses to Chicago, Cleveland loses to Atlanta, the Knicks lose to Charlotte and Miami loses to Milwaukee.
-OR- Orlando finishes second in the group and wins the tiebreaker over any second-place team from other groups with a 3-1 record.
Philadelphia clinches a wild card if Cleveland loses to Atlanta, the Knicks lose to Charlotte, Milwaukee loses to Miami, Boston loses to Chicago and Brooklyn loses to Toronto and Philadelphia finishes second in the group and wins the tiebreaker over any second-place team from other groups.
West Group A
Phoenix clinches the wild card if Minnesota loses.
-OR- Phoenix wins the tiebreaker over any second-place team from the other groups that finishes 3-1.
West Group B
Houston clinches Group B if the Rockets win.
New Orleans clinches Group B if the Rockets lose.
West Group C
Minnesota clinches Group C if the Timberwolves win and Sacramento loses to Golden State.
Minnesota clinches a wild card if the Timberwolves win and finish second in the group and wins the tiebreaker over any second-place teams from other groups with a 3-1 record.
Golden State clinches Group C if the Warriors win and Minnesota loses to Oklahoma City.
-OR- Golden State beats Sacramento and the Warriors win the tiebreaker over Sacramento and Minnesota.
Golden State clinches the wild card if the Warriors win and finishes second in the group and wins the tiebreaker over any second-place team from other groups with a 3-1 record.
Sacramento clinches Group C if the Kings win.
-OR- Minnesota beats Oklahoma City and Sacramento wins the tiebreaker over Minnesota and Golden State.
Standings going into Tuesday’s games
East Group A
- Indiana Pacers (4-0) – A
- Cleveland Cavaliers (2-1)
- Philadelphia 76ers (2-2)
- Atlanta Hawks (1-2)
- Detroit Pistons (0-4) – O
East Group B
- Milwaukee Bucks (3-0)
- New York Knicks (2-1)
- Miami Heat (2-1)
- Charlotte Hornets (1-2)
- Washington Wizards (0-3) – O
East Group C
- Orlando Magic (3-1)
- Boston Celtics (2-1)
- Brooklyn Nets (2-1)
- Toronto Raptors (1-2) – O
- Chicago Bulls (0-3) – O
West Group A
- Los Angeles Lakers (4-0) – A
- Phoenix Suns (3-1)
- Utah Jazz (2-2) – O
- Portland Trail Blazers (1-3) – O
- Memphis Grizzlies (0-4) – O
West Group B
- New Orleans Pelicans (3-1)
- Houston Rockets (2-1)
- Denver Nuggets (2-2) – O
- Dallas Mavericks (1-2) – O
- Los Angeles Clippers (1-3) – O
West Group C
- Sacramento Kings (3-0)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (2-1)
- Golden State Warriors (2-1)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (1-2) -O
- San Antonio Spurs (0-4) – O
A – Advanced to Knockout Round
O – Out of contention for the Knockout Round
NBA In-Season Tournament leading scorers
| Player | Team | Games played | Points | |
| 1 | De’Aaron Fox | Sacramento Kings | 2 | 39.5 |
| 2 | Donovan Mitchell | Cleveland Cavaliers | 1 | 38.0 |
| 3 | Kevin Durant | Phoenix Suns | 3 | 35.7 |
| 4 | Joel Embiid | Philadelphia 76ers | 4 | 34.0 |
| 5 | Jalen Brunson | New York Knicks | 3 | 33.7 |
| 6 | Stephen Curry | Golden State Warriors | 2 | 32.5 |
| 7 | Nikola Jokic | Denver Nuggets | 4 | 32.3 |
| 8 | Luka Doncic | Dallas Mavericks | 3 | 31.3 |
| 8 | Zach Lavine | Chicago Bulls | 3 | 31.3 |
| 10 | Devin Booker | Phoenix Suns | 3 | 30.7 |
Players share for advancing to Las Vegas
Teams are financially incentivized to advance to Las Vegas for the semifinals and finals.
The players on the winning team will each get $500,000 and players for the runners-up will get $200,000.
The losing players of the semifinals will each get $100,000, and the losing players of the quarterfinals will each get $50,000.
What is the point of the in-season NBA Tournament?
Commissioner Adam Silver has been pushing for the NBA In-Season Tournament for several years. He got the idea from European soccer leagues that play tournaments during the season and are popular with fans. The NBA is hoping that tournament games will create some excitement for the early-season games. With TV ratings being higher for those games, it seems that idea is working.
How many games are in the NBA In-Season Tournament?
Every team will play four games in group play. The top six teams and two wild card teams will move to a Knockout Round, which consists of two more games, being played on Dec. 4 and 5. The four remaining teams will advance to the semifinals in Las Vegas on Dec. 8 and the championship is Dec. 9. All 67 games in both stages of the In-Season Tournament will count toward the regular-season standings except the championship. Each team will continue to play 82 regular-season games in the 2023-24 season, including those games that are part of Group Play and the Knockout Rounds.