2024 NBA Cup standings for in-season tournament: Hawks become first East team to advance to knockout rounds

Atlanta joins Golden State and Houston in the eight-team knockout stage

By Brad Botkin

Nov 30, 2024 at 1:23 am ET • 2 min read

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The 2024 NBA Cup is underway, as the league continues the second year of its in-season tournament. The NBA Cup schedule continued Friday with 10 games, and the eight-team knockout stage will be set by the end of play on Tuesday, Dec. 3. With Friday's win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Atlanta Hawks clinched East Group C and became the first team from the Eastern Conference to advance to the knockout rounds. The Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets are the only other teams to have punched their tickets to the eight-team knockout stage, both securing their groups by starting 3-0 in the competition.

We also have some high drama set for Tuesday night with two matchups between 3-0 teams with the group on the line. In East Group A, the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic will square off, while the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons will battle for East Group B supremacy.

The NBA Cup courts have a different look in 2024, but the event largely has the same format as 2023, its inaugural year -- even if that format could use some tweaks.

For those who need a reminder, here's a brief summary of how the tournament works:

The NBA's 30 teams have been split into six five-team groups: Three groups in the Eastern Conference and three groups in the Western Conference.
Teams are playing the other four teams in their group in round-robin style play on Tuesdays and Fridays between Nov. 12 and Dec. 3.
Eight teams (the six group winners plus one wild-card team from each conference) will advance to the knockout round. The standings will be determined by overall record, head-to-head record and point differential if a tiebreaker is needed (there are even more tiebreakers if necessary).
The knockout round will be a single-elimination bracket. The four East teams will be on one side of the bracket, the four West teams will be on the other. The final between the East and West winners will be held on Dec. 17 in Las Vegas.

Got it? Good. With the event in progress, we'll be keeping track of the standings (and the potentially all-important point differentials) below.