Winning Players And Coaches In NBA In-Season Tournament To Make $500,000

Winning players and head coaches of the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament will take home $500,000 apiece, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The semifinalists will make $200,000.

The tournament tipped off Friday night with two games and will conclude with a championship game Dec. 9 in Las Vegas. The NBA introduced the event to juice up interest in the regular season heading into the holidays, and to spike attention entering the next round of negotiations over the league’s media rights deal in 2025.

“That’s what the league wants to do here is incentivize competition and really try to fast track this tournament,” Woj said Friday on “Inside the NBA.”

The Tournament tipped off Friday with a Group Play doubleheader on ESPN as the New York Knicks visit the Milwaukee Bucks at 7:30 p.m. ET and the Denver Nuggets host the Dallas Mavericks at 10 p.m. ET.

All 30 NBA teams will play four Group Play games on Tuesdays and Fridays in November. Eight teams will advance to the single-elimination Knockout Rounds, which culminate with one team winning the NBA Cup at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as the In-Season Tournament champion on Dec. 9.

“Financially for the league, they’re negotiating a new media rights deal [for 2025],” Woj said Friday. “The In-Season Tournament is going to be a big part of that and ultimately, players, teams, they share in that revenue.

“But for the NBA, a huge part of this is getting buy-in from their stars, especially their younger stars. This is a long-term play for the league.

“When we get to the knockout round, the final eight, the Final Four in Vegas, they need to see and what will start to build this tournament are players, coaches, teams in a competitive environment really competing for this championship.”

The Bucks are favored to win the tournament, per Betonline.ag, followed by the Celtics, Nuggets, Lakers, Cavaliers and Warriors.