The NBA officially announced the long-anticipated In-Season Tournament on Saturday night in Las Vegas. As Adam Silver explained on ESPN while introducing the tournament, the idea has been going around for years, and starting in 2023, it’ll finally become part of the NBA calendar.
It’s not the first major tournament-style addition to the league in recent years — the NBA introduced the Play-In Tournament to determine the 7 and 8 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conferences in 2021 — but this is easily the most ambitious project that the league has adopted in some time. As part of the announcement, the league had some help from a collection of players and coaches to introduce the groups, which break down like this:
West Group A: Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers
West Group B: Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets
West Group C: Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs
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 in the In-Season Tournament will take place on Tuesdays and Fridays from Nov. 3-28. For details on how the tournament will work, you can read up on that right here.
