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The NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament is set to tip off on Friday. So, many of the league’s top stars recently gave their predictions for which teams will win their respective groups or emerge as wildcards.
First up was Phoenix Suns superstar forward Kevin Durant. As expected, Durant chose his Suns to win Western Conference Group A:
“First of all, the Suns are gonna win,” Durant said.
However, when it came to the Eastern Conference, Durant went with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Milwaukee Bucks in Groups A and B.
Next up was Golden State Warriors superstar point guard Steph Curry, who unsurprisingly went with his Warriors in West Group C. Curry also chose the LA Lakers as his wildcard pick in the West.
As for Minnesota Timberwolves star shooting guard Anthony Edwards, he went with the LA Clippers over the Denver Nuggets in West Group B. Edwards said that this had to do with his resentment toward the Nuggets for knocking his Wolves out of the 2023 NBA playoffs:
“I gotta go with the Clippers because I can’t pick the Nuggets because they beat us in the playoffs,” Edwards said.
Edwards also chose the Suns and the Orlando Magic as his West and East wildcards. Given that the Magic are still a young and up-and-coming team, most would agree that this was the boldest prediction from any of the stars.
Finally, Warriors star forward Draymond Green chose the Boston Celtics in East Group C, the Lakers in West Group A and the Clippers in West Group B. As for his West wildcard pick, Green went with the defending champion Nuggets:
“Can’t leave the champs out, that’s disrespectful. Can’t disrespect the champs,” Green said.
Check out each player’s prediction below:
Also Read: How to watch NBA In-Season Tournament games? Channel details, timings & more
How does the NBA In-Season Tournament work?
As for the format for the NBA In-Season Tournament, all 30 teams will be competing for the first-ever NBA Cup. Players from the winning team will also receive $500,000 each.
The tournament will kick off with the group stage on Friday, with each team set to play four games on designated “tournament nights” until Nov. 28. Each team’s four-game group stage schedule will consist of one game against each team in its group, including two home games and two road games.
The winners of each of the six groups will then advance to the knockout rounds of the tournament, as will two wildcard teams. The wildcards will be the teams with the best group stage record in each conference that finish second in their respective groups.
The eight-team knockout rounds will then be a single elimination format, culminating with the championship game on Saturday, Dec. 9 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In addition to teams competing for the NBA Cup, all 67 In-Season Tournament games except the championship will count toward each team’s 82-game regular-season record.
Also Read: NBA In-Season Tournament knockout rounds schedule released: Date, time & more
