Two years ago the NBA implemented a brand new regular season tournament known as the NBA cup. The cup is a mid-season tournament that includes all 30 teams. Teams compete in group play and based on their wins and point differential, can earn a spot in the single game elimination round. After the final game in Vegas, a champion is crowned.
Sounds like an exciting concept, right? Well, some think that the cup is pointless, because the reward for winning the cup is a trophy and a cash prize for each player. While this may encourage some players to try their hardest, most NBA players are insanely rich and aren’t too worried about extra cash. The disappointing prize also makes it difficult for some fans to get invested in it.
The cup also doesn’t seem to help predict which team will do well in the playoffs. In the 2023-24 season, the Los-Angelous Lakers won the cup, but they were eliminated in the first round by the Denver Nuggets. In the following season, the Milwaukee Bucks won, and they also had a first round exit in the playoffs. But perhaps this trend is coming to an end with the San Antonio Spurs and New York Nicks competing in this year’s NBA cup championship.
The NBA claims they created the cup to get more viewers invested in the NBA during a time dominated by the NFL, but I believe that the lack of a substantial prize leads to it underperforming.
One of my suggestions to improve the cups reward is to give the winning team an automatic playoff or play-in spot; this would certainly get teams to take it more seriously than before as well as getting fans invested in the cup. Issues would come up with the winning team lacking motivation for the rest of the season. We could solve this by making the reward slightly less substantial by counting it as one or more extra wins to their record.
My next solution is for the winners of the cup to receive a draft pick or higher draft lottery odds. This would also work well as motivation for players and fans, but instead of affecting the current season it would affect the team’s future.
In its first few years, the NBA cup has been a great addition to the regular season, adding a new and refreshing thing to watch. However, doesn’t mean its perfect;I think that the implementation of a new reward would truly improve the overall importance of the cup.
