Biggest Surprises and MVP Revealed in 2024 NBA Cup Group Play

• We are officially reaching the conclusion of group play in the 2024 NBA Cup. The matchups for the knockout rounds will be much clearer, however, in the following days.
• The Golden State Warriors have already qualified for a spot in the knockouts after dominating West Group C. The Houston Rockets are also going to join in after defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves in overtime on Tuesday in West Group A.
• And let’s not forget, point differential counts in this tournament, specifically for the Los Angeles Lakers who came into Tuesday with a plus-12 point differential but are now chasing Phoenix Suns in West Group B after being blown out 127-100 by them.
• LeBron James and his defending in-season tournament title team have a long ways back to even making the knockout round.
• After group play wraps up on Dec. 3, the quarterfinals will go down on Dec. 10 and 11 as teams compete to become the second in-season tournament champion in league history, not to mention $500,000 per player.
• We asked our NBA sources to answer some of the biggest questions surrounding this high-stakes tournament, including who the group-play MVP is and what’s been the biggest surprise so far.

Which group has proved to be the toughest so far?

• Michael Wright: West Group C. Three teams entered the week within the top seven of the Western Conference: the Warriors, Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies. Not to mention defending West champion Dallas Mavericks is hardly a slouch.

Biggest Surprises and MVP Revealed in 2024 NBA Cup Group Play

• The Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans have been pretty decimated by injuries this season, which is why they have struggled in the NBA Cup and the regular season. The Warriors, meanwhile, are sailing through the group after winning a place in the NBA Cup knockout round, ousting New Orleans in the process.
• Tim MacMahon: West Group B has delivered on the hype. Expected to be the most challenging group, it includes three teams coming off playoff appearances (defending in-season tourney champ Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Suns) and the San Antonio Spurs, who are making a massive leap this season after improving the supporting cast around Victor Wembanyama. All four of those teams have one loss in NBA Cup action, so this group’s bid to the knockout stage will go down to the wire.
• Dave McMenamin: East Group C. It includes the defending champs in the Boston Celtics, the hottest team in the league in the Cleveland Cavaliers, plus the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks — sub-.500 teams, to be sure, but far from easy victories by any stretch. And all four of those teams are good enough to disregard the wretched Washington Wizards, who were bounced Tuesday night by the Bulls.
• Ohm Youngmisuk: East Group C has been much tougher than anyone anticipated with Cleveland’s red-hot start. With the defending champion Celtics in the same group, East C has the teams with the two best records in the league. After Tuesday’s slate of games, however, Chicago, Atlanta and Boston were all tied for third, and Friday will clear up which one of these teams makes it closer to the knockout rounds.
• Chris Herring: West Group B. Absolutely, the Utah Jazz are flat-out awful. However, the remaining four clubs in the group, such as the Thunder, Suns, Lakers and Spurs all boast a winning record, meaning that they would qualify for the postseason if the season were to end today. And in the case of the Suns, they may be far better than their record, considering they were one of the hottest teams in the league before Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal suffered calf injuries.

Which team has made the biggest surprise run?

• McMenamin: The Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee has been terrific in group play, going 3-0 — including a win against last season’s East finalist in the Indiana Pacers and a road win in Miami without Giannis Antetokounmpo — and has been pretty pedestrian in all its other games.
• The Bucks look somewhat reminiscent of last season’s NBA Cup champions, the Lakers.
• Youngmisuk: Although they’ve only played two games in the NBA Cup thus far, the Detroit Pistons were a surprising 2-0 entering Friday’s games.

What is your championship matchup — and who will win?

• Youngmisuk: How about a replay of the 2022 NBA Finals? The Celtics and Warriors meeting in Vegas would not only be fun but would have a tinge of drama. 
• There’s getting a superstar matchup of Steph versus Tatum and Tatum against Steve Kerr. The first meeting between the two on Nov. 6 finished with the Warriors winning in Boston to the sound of the local crowd’s boos.
• While Golden State has fought a little of late, Curry isn’t going to leave Vegas with nothing if he has come this far.
  
  Herring: I could see the Suns and Bucks making a run to give us a (very different-looking) rematch from the 2021 NBA Finals. Both teams have had some tough times early in this season but seem like they’re itching to prove that they’re good enough to be considered among the top teams.
• Who wouldn’t want to see KD and Devin Booker go toe-to-toe with Giannis and Damian Lillard with a championship on the line?
• Wright: There is sure to be no lack of star power if the Lakers clash with the Celtics with LeBron James and Anthony Davis squaring off against champions Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
• The only concern from this angle is if the teams spend so much energy to win the NBA Cup that they waste it later in the season in the quest to win an arguably more important Larry O’Brien Trophy.

• MacMahon: What about a rematch of last season’s NBA Finals with the Celtics beating the Mavericks again? The Celtics showed us they’re the best team in the league again after recently ending the Cavaliers’ 15-0 start.
• The Mavs have sputtered a bit early in the season, but Dallas is in pole position to get the West’s wild card bid. Luka Doncic hasn’t played up to his MVP-candidate standards yet this season, but the odds appear that will change soon.
• McMenamin: We have a coast-to-coast matchup with the Knicks and Warriors in the NBA Cup final after the Warriors secured their spot to the knockout round, but the Knicks have tied at 2-0 on East Group A, and face each other in the penultimate game of group stage next Tuesday.