Orlando Magic players eyeing half-million dollar prize in NBA's first-ever In-Season Tournament
ORLANDO, Fla. - The Orlando Magic will participate in the NBA's first-ever In-Season Tournament set to make its debut in the 2023-24 regular season, where players will have a chance to compete for $500,000 each.
The inaugural In-Season Tournament is scheduled to tip off November 3 and will culminate with the championship on December 9 in Las Vegas, according to a press release.
The tournament will be played in two stages, Group Play and the Knockout Rounds.
Group Play
Tournament Nights will take place every Tuesday and Friday in November, except for Election Day on November 7. Only Group Play games will be played on Tournament Nights.
All 30 NBA teams have been randomly put into six groups of five within their conference based on last season's records.
Each team will play four Group Play games – one game against each opponent in its group. There will be two home games and two away games per team.
To determine the opponents, the 15 teams in each conference were divided into three groups of five teams through a random drawing. Each team was placed in a "pot" based on last season's records, according to the news release:
- Pot 1: The teams with the three best prior-season records in a conference
- Pot 2: The teams with the fourth through sixth-best prior-season records
- Pot 3: The teams with the seventh through ninth-best prior-season records
- Pot 4: The teams with the 10th through 12th-best prior-season records
- Pot 5: The teams with the 13th through 15th-best prior-season records
The Orlando Magic's Group Play games are scheduled for:
- November 14: at Brooklyn Nets, 7:30 p.m.
- November 17: at Chicago Bulls, 8 p.m.
- November 21: Toronto Raptors, 7 p.m.
- November 24: Boston Celtics, 2:30 p.m.
Knockout Rounds
Only eight teams will advance to the Knockout Rounds, the team with the best sanding in Group Play in each of the six groups and two "wild cards," the team from each conference with the second-best record in Group Play, according to the NBA.
The Knockout Rounds feature single-elimination games in the quarterfinals on December 4 and 5, the semifinals on December 7 and championship on December 9.
Quarterfinal games will be hosted by the two teams with the best record in Group Play. The team with the best record in Group Play will host the wild card team.
On December 6 and 8, the 22 teams that do not quality for the Knockout Rounds will each play two regular season games. The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each play a regular season game on December 8.
MORE: Washington Commanders' new identity: Could the Orlando Magic moniker be in the cards?
Prizes
The teams will compete for a prize pool and the new In-Season Tournament trophy – the NBA Cup.
The prize pool will be allocated to the teams that participate in the Knockout Rounds, according to the NBA:
- Players on winning team of championship: $500,000 each
- Players on losing team of championship: $200,000 each
- Players on losing team of semifinals: $100,000 each
- Players on losing team of quarterfinals: $50,000 each
MVP Award?
The NBA will name the MVP of the In-Season Tournament and the All-Tournament Team based on performance in Group Play and in the Knockout Rounds at the end of the tournament.
RELATED: Orlando Magic center Moritz Wagner re-signs with $16M contract
Orlando Magic tickets
Tickets for both home Group Play games at the Amway Center go on sale at 3 p.m. on August 17. Single-game tickets for the rest of the 2023-24 season go on sale at 1 p.m. on August 25.
How to watch In-Season Tournament games
The NBA will broadcast the In-Season Tournament on NBA League Pass, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV.
Full In-Season Tournament schedule
Click here to see the full NBA In-Season Tournament schedule.