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Morning Edition
December 17, 2024
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The NBA Cup is only in its second year, but it’s clear the players who will face off in Tuesday night’s final care deeply about winning the nascent tournament. How did the NBA create stakes in a short time? And will the league be able to parlay player interest into fan interest to the same degree?
— Colin Salao [[link removed]] and Eric Fisher [[link removed]]
Players Care About the NBA Cup. Does That Outweigh Complications? [[link removed]]
Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
LAS VEGAS — NBA ratings may be down this year [[link removed]], but anyone watching the Emirates NBA Cup knows past speculation that teams don’t care about winning the tournament can be ruled out. The games are evidently more intense and players are gunning for the cash prize—particularly those who aren’t making tens or hundreds of millions.
“It’s funny, a lot of people say it’s the money, and it’s not; it’s the competition. Now, the guys who aren’t playing, it’s the money. You know, I’ve never been hugged more by our rookies in my life than after that game. They were celebrating like it was a big game,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said after his team defeated the Hawks to advance to the final.
For Bucks stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard—who both make about $48 million per year—the $514,970 grand prize is less than their per-game salary (about $595,000) over an 82-game regular season. Then there are players like the Thunder’s Branden Carlson, who makes less than $1 million this year and would see his pay increase by 52% [[link removed]] if his team wins Tuesday.
Another benefit of the tournament is it provides a simulation of playoff-level intensity during the regular season, which Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander acknowledged is important for his young team.
“Obviously, a little bit more is at stake where if you lose you go home, but games like that are good experience for us, especially with where we want to end up,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
A Trophy Trade-Off
The money, experience, and bragging rights may be enticing, but the two finalists face some disadvantages [[link removed]]. The NBA Cup final does not count toward a team’s 82-game schedule, meaning the Bucks and Thunder are the only two teams in the league that will play 83 games.
Every other team in the league also gets some form of extended break of about three to five days—or two games in 11 nights. The Bucks have two days off before heading to Cleveland, while the Thunder will have one day off before playing a back-to-back on the road against the two teams in Florida.
Addressing the media on Monday, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said his team is gunning for the NBA Cup championship. But he acknowledged there is still 70% of the season left and that coming out of the final, the Thunder are facing a difficult road trip the league would, under normal circumstances, never schedule.
“We want to win. … But it will be a challenge coming out of it for both teams. … If you look at that as a road trip, it’s an unprecedented road trip. The NBA would never schedule that. They would never put a team on a six-day West Coast road trip and then fly them East for a back-to-back,” Daigneault said when FOS asked about the Thunder’s schedule.
Vegas Positioned for NBA Expansion Team, but Where Will It Play? [[link removed]]
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas gets another high-profile basketball event with Tuesday’s championship game of the Emirates NBA Cup. The title game, however, again raises the question of whether the eight-year-old arena will be the home of an eventual NBA expansion franchise.
It’s long been believed Las Vegas is at or near the top of the league’s list of potential expansion markets [[link removed]], should it look to grow beyond 30 teams [[link removed]]. Long before the NBA even formalizes a process to add new franchises, though, there are now at least three different potential site candidates in Las Vegas for a team, further complicating an issue that has to define itself fully.
Oak View Group has been at this the longest, with a plan dating back nearly three years for a large-scale resort and NBA-ready arena [[link removed]] near the south end of the famed Las Vegas Strip. Much more recently, the Clark County (Nev.) Zoning Commission unanimously approved several key components for a somewhat similar project [[link removed]] called LVXP near the north end of the Strip.
In between them is the existing arena, one in which Golden Knights owner Bill Foley wants to invest $300 million [[link removed]] for improvements, and says building a new venue for the NBA in Las Vegas is a “waste of time,” adding that T-Mobile “is a perfect place for an NBA team.” Foley’s planned upgrades—being considered in coordination with the venue’s other two owners, AEG and MGM Resorts International—span a range of projects, including additional seating, new luxury-seating areas, and enhancements to the facility’s exterior footprint.
“It would be great to give T-Mobile [Arena] a real facelift if an NBA team were to come in,” Foley recently told Nevada Week [[link removed]]. “We have a lot of things we’re working on, but there’ll be more revealed later. I’ve learned from my time with [NHL commissioner] Gary Bettman that I should not speak to anything about what a commissioner might do or might not do, because he laid it on the line for me.”
A Much Cheaper Ticket Market
In the meantime, the ticket resale market for Tuesday’s Emirates NBA Cup final between the Bucks and Thunder is way down compared to last year.
On multiple platforms, low-end, get-in seats for the championship game can be obtained for less than $50. That’s less than one-third of the comparable figure from a year ago, showing the impact of not having a marquee, big-market team such as the Lakers or Knicks involved, with the competition instead involving mid-market franchises from the Midwest and Southwest.
SPONSORED BY EMIRATES NBA CUP
Who Will Capture the Emirates NBA Cup?
[[link removed]]
The Emirates NBA Cup championship [[link removed]] is tonight at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.
The veteran Bucks—or the young, tenacious Thunder—will capture the NBA Cup [[link removed]]. Oklahoma City faces Milwaukee’s sharp offense led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Dame Time. Giannis nearly posted a triple double in a semifinals win over the Hawks: 32 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists.
The Bucks face the Thunder’s gritty defense combined with All-NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. After defeating the Rockets in the semifinals, Shai explained his team was dead-set on getting stops. “We don’t play here every year, but the environment was dope. The fans were into it, [Las Vegas is] a basketball city. It was really fun playing out there,” said Shai.
Is OKC ready for the competition? Find out tonight [[link removed]].
NBA Cup’s Scheduling Dilemma: Fans Are Struggling to Commit to Final [[link removed]]
Candice Ward-Imagn Images
LAS VEGAS — Alex Reed walked off a plane at the Harry Reid International Airport sporting a Trae Young jersey. It was about 1 p.m. PT on Saturday and Reed, a diehard Atlanta sports fan, was headed straight to T-Mobile Arena to watch the Hawks face the Bucks in the Emirates NBA Cup semifinals.
But he didn’t plan a trip to Sin City to see the Hawks. Instead, he told Front Office Sports [[link removed]] he was there to watch the Falcons face the Raiders in Allegiant Stadium for Monday Night Football. The Hawks happened to qualify for the NBA Cup semifinals Wednesday night, less than 72 hours before his flight, and because “tickets were cheap,” he and his partner decided to add it to their itinerary.
When asked whether he would’ve come for the Hawks only, Reed chuckled and simply said, “No.” However, there was a caveat: He would have gone if he knew the Hawks had qualified at least a few weeks in advance.
“Yes, [or at least] I would’ve probably had a better decision,” Reed said.
While the Hawks did not make Tuesday’s championship game, Reed said he wouldn’t have attended anyway because he would’ve flown out by then. And he’s far from the only one with this experience. Over the weekend, Vegas was filled with groups of Atlanta sports fans who mixed a Hawks jersey with their majority of Falcons merchandise.
Another pair of fans, who chose to remain anonymous, told FOS they flew to Vegas from Hawai‘i to support the Falcons. One of them was a supporter of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo but still chose not to attend the game live. They also said an earlier notice may have prompted them to make the trip—even if it were just for the NBA Cup.
What’s the Fix?
Their stories highlight the scheduling conundrum the NBA is facing as it attempts to grow the NBA Cup. The league envisions a tentpole event fans are willing to travel to [[link removed]], similar to what it has built with the Las Vegas Summer League. But the format of the NBA Cup makes it difficult for fans to know which teams they’re coming to support.
Last year, none of the three games in Vegas sold out—even though the Lakers won the tournament. Diehard fans could easily make the impromptu four-hour drive from Los Angeles, which isn’t as easy for Bucks and Thunder fans this year.
The average ticket price for this year’s NBA Cup final is $202, down about 42.5% from last year, according to TickPick.
The NBA has not ruled out any changes to the tournament in future years [[link removed]], but solidifying the final four NBA Cup teams weeks before the games is tricky given the NBA’s timeline. The league wants the tournament to come before Christmas, which gives them only about two months from the start of the season. The NBA Cup started three weeks into the season to give some teams time to ramp up.
There are only two tournament nights for group play per week—Tuesdays and Fridays—which coincides with broadcasting dates for ESPN and TNT. That could change with Amazon Prime Video in the fold starting next season, and it could help condense the schedule.
“This is going to be a living, breathing thing that we’re very open to tweaking and evolving. We’ve got a big new stakeholder in the mix with Amazon that will probably help us shake things up as we look forward,” Evan Wasch, NBA executive vice president for basketball strategy and analytics, told FOS.
TRIVIA
Test your skills in our new daily sports trivia game [[link removed]]! We’re giving our newsletter subscribers a hint for today’s question: Mike Tyson is one of the answers in the top five.
SPONSORED BY EMIRATES NBA CUP
The Battle Concludes Tonight
[[link removed]]
The Emirates NBA Cup championship [[link removed]] is tonight at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.
The veteran Bucks—or the young, tenacious Thunder—will capture the NBA Cup [[link removed]]. Oklahoma City faces Milwaukee’s sharp offense led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Dame Time. Giannis nearly posted a triple double in a semifinals win over the Hawks: 32 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists.
The Bucks face the Thunder’s gritty defense combined with All-NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. After defeating the Rockets in the semifinals, Shai explained his team was dead-set on getting stops. “We don’t play here every year, but the environment was dope. The fans were into it, [Las Vegas is] a basketball city. It was really fun playing out there,” said Shai. Is OKC ready for the competition?
Find out tonight [[link removed]].
Conversation Starters Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 women’s basketball league launching in January, just announced a $28 million funding round [[link removed]]. Investors include JuJu Watkins, Dawn Staley, Michael Phelps, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. The NFL remains committed to its diversity initiatives [[link removed]], with commissioner Roger Goodell emphasizing the league will not be swayed by shifting trends in corporate America. The 49ers suspended De’Vondre Campbell for the final three games after he refused to enter Thursday night’s game against the Rams, costing him more than $800,000 in salary [[link removed]] while saving San Francisco the same amount. Editors’ Picks Colorado State, Utah State File Lawsuit Against Mountain West Over Exit Fees [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]The complaint alleges they hadn’t agreed to $19 million in exit fees. WNBA Announces First Regular-Season International Game in Vancouver [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The league played preseason games in Canada, Mexico, and England. How College Football Entered an Unprecedented Era of Parity [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]The reason the expanded Playoff bracket includes new faces. Question of the Day
Are you planning to watch the Emirates NBA Cup final on Tuesday between the Bucks and Thunder?
YES [[link removed]] NO [[link removed]]
Monday’s result: Respondents were fairly split on which position they think Travis Hunter will play in the NFL: 38% said cornerback, 31% said wide receiver, and 32% said both.
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