NBA Announces Jazz In-Season Tournament Opponents, Dates
Aug 15, 2023, 1:08 PM | Updated: Aug 16, 2023, 11:18 am
SALT LAKE CITY – The NBA has announced the dates for the inaugural in-season tournament, including the four cup games for the Utah Jazz.
The NBA announced the Jazz were in West Group A featuring the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, and Portland Trail Blazers.
let’s do it 🎶 https://t.co/iZGfCFOV4U pic.twitter.com/sLdSIFGFM2
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) August 15, 2023
To open tournament play, the Jazz will play the Grizzlies on November 10 in Memphis and then return home for a game against Portland on November 14.
Utah will play the Suns at home on November 17 and then head to Los Angeles to play the Lakers on November 21. The game against Phoenix will be broadcast on ESPN and the game in Crypto.com Arena will be on TNT.
The Jazz’s full regular season schedule will be announced in the coming days.
How Does Utah Jazz In-Season Tournament Work?
The In-Season Tournament will feature all 30 NBA franchises competing to earn a spot in the eight-team single-elimination tournament.
Pool play consists of six five-team groups, separated by conference, but not by the league’s existing divisions.
Over the first six weeks of the season, teams will face the other four members in their grouping once each in Cup games. Then, the winner of each group, plus two wildcard teams, will advance to the eight-team single-elimination tournament.
The @utahjazz will face both LeBron James and Kevin Durant during the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament.
Check out the rest of their grouping here. #TakeNote https://t.co/kO7HAkAwsD
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) August 14, 2023
The final four teams will complete the tournament at a neutral site in Las Vegas beginning December 7, with players on the winning team each earning $500,000.
The four Cup games will be counted toward a team’s regular season record.
Teams that advance to the finals of the NBA In-Season Tournament will wind up playing 83 regular season games, while those teams already eliminated will continue to compete in traditional regular season contests.
Though new to the NBA, the G League and the WNBA have featured In-Season Tournaments in recent years.
Ben Anderson is the Utah Jazz insider for KSL Sports and the co-host of Jake and Ben from 10-12p with Jake Scott on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone. Find Ben on Twitter at @BensHoops or on Instagram @BensHoops.
