Coming soon: the NBA Cup.
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The NBA unveiled the details on Saturday of its inaugural in-season tournament, which will have a prize pool of about $US18 million (A26.9m) and will be capped by a championship game in Las Vegas on December 9.
It's an event that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wanted for years, giving teams a trophy to play for during the regular season.
And now, it's finally reality.
"This is a concept that has been rumbling around the league office for about 15 years," Silver said. "It's not a new concept in sports. For those that follow particularly international soccer, it's a long tradition of having in-season tournaments ... so we thought, what a perfect opportunity for a global league like the NBA and it's a perfect fit for our game."
The tournament payouts for players on standard contracts will be $US500,000 apiece for those on the winning team, $US200,000 apiece for those on the runner-up, $100,000 apiece for those on the teams that lose semi-final games and $US50,000 for those on the teams that lose in the quarter-finals.
Games will start on November 3, being played mostly on Tuesdays and Fridays in November - except for November 7, when the NBA will play no games to commemorate Election Day. That announcement came Saturday, and will mark the second consecutive year when the NBA has no games on that date with hopes of promoting civic awareness and engagement.
The Final Four will be in Las Vegas.
Teams were assigned to a five-team group. They'll play one round-robin round; the six group winners will make the quarter-finals, as will the best two second-place teams from the groups.
They were chosen as follows:
West Group A -- Memphis, Phoenix, the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah and Portland.
West Group B -- Denver, the Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans, Dallas and Houston.
West Group C -- Sacramento, Golden State, Minnesota, Oklahoma City and San Antonio.
East Group A -- Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Indiana and Detroit.
East Group B -- Milwaukee, New York, Miami, Washington and Charlotte.
East Group C -- Boston, Brooklyn, Toronto, Chicago and Orlando.
Australian Associated Press
