The Portland Trail Blazers will face four much better teams this fall in the newly renamed 2024 Emirates NBA Cup, previously known as the NBA In-Season Tournament.
On Tuesday, the NBA released a press release detailing the schedule for all group stage games, which will be broadcast on Tuesdays on TNT and Fridays on ESPN from November 12 to December 3. The best teams in each group, plus one wildcard club from each conference, will qualify for a quarterfinal series with eight teams. They will then move on to Las Vegas. A semifinal series with four clubs will begin on December 14, and this year’s final will take place on December 17.
The groups were formed based on team results in the 2023-24 season. Portland’s West Group A includes the Minnesota Timberwolves (who finished 56-26 and secured third place in the Western Conference), LA Clippers (51-31, fourth place in the West), Sacramento Kings (46-36, ninth place) and Houston Rockets (41-41, 11th place). The Trail Blazers finished 21-61 and this year’s edition will be without one of last year’s best players, 2023 Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon. They also enter with four rotation-ready centers and nowhere near enough wings – meaning it probably won’t get much better.
The Trail Blazers will host the Minnesota Timberwolves in their first meeting on November 12th, with the game kicking off at 7 p.m. PT. On Friday, November 22nd, Portland will travel to Houston to face the Rockets at 5 p.m. PT.
One week later, the Trail Blazers will host the newly formed Kings for a 7 p.m. game. Finally, the Trail Blazers will finish their group stage on Tuesday, December 3rd at the LA Clippers’ brand new arena, the Intuit Dome. The game will begin at 7:30 p.m. PT.
For confused fans, the league has wisely put together a pretty insightful two-minute explanatory video, which is The White Lotus Star Michael Imperioli and Children with Rosario Dawson as the star.
EMIRATES NBA CUP EXPLAINED WITH MICHAEL IMPERIOLI AND ROSARIO DAWSON 🎥
Starting November 12th, all 30 teams will compete in group play, with 8 advancing to the knockout round! The semifinals and championship will take place on December 14th and 17th in Las Vegas!
Who will win the NBA Cup in 2024? pic.twitter.com/lAZWYD0stf
— NBA (@NBA) 13 August 2024
Can the Trail Blazers beat any of the teams in their group stage?
Assuming all other teams field at least four of their five regular players, this is probably not the case.
Still, the games are worth watching considering the teams took the competition seriously last year. And young players like rookie center Donovan Clingan and young guards Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe probably won’t get this close to the playoffs for a long time.
More Trail Blazers: Should Portland consider this blockbuster three-team transfer proposal?
