Emirates NBA Cup 2026 Groups: Full Breakdown and Format

If you just found out the 2026 Emirates NBA Cup groups are set, you probably have three questions in your head at once: who’s actually in my team’s group, is it a rough draw or a soft one, and what happens next. The NBA’s own announcement tells you the groups and not much else, which leaves the “so what does this mean” part for you to work out. Here is who is in each group, which one is toughest, and what happens next.

All 6 Emirates NBA Cup 2026 Groups

All 30 teams were sorted into six groups of five, split evenly between the Western and Eastern Conferences.

How the Group Draw Actually Works

The NBA doesn’t just throw 30 names in a hat. Each conference’s 15 teams are first sorted into five “tiers” of three teams each, based on final 2025-26 regular-season standings. One team from each tier is then randomly drawn into each of the conference’s three groups, which is why every group ends up with a realistic mix of contenders and rebuilding teams instead of one group getting stacked with all the best teams.

Here’s how that played out in the West this year. Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Denver were the conference’s top three teams, so the tier system guaranteed they’d land in three separate groups (Groups B, C and A). The next tier down, Lakers, Rockets and Timberwolves, split the same way, and so on through the bottom tier of Grizzlies, Kings and Jazz. Every single group in the East follows the identical pattern, tier by tier, down to the lowest-seeded teams. That’s not a coincidence — it’s the whole point of the format, and it’s the mechanic that most coverage of the groups skips over entirely.

Which Group Is the Toughest? (2026 Group of Death)

Even with the tiered draw keeping things balanced, groups aren’t identical. Using each team’s actual 2025-26 win total as a rough strength gauge, here’s how the six groups rank from toughest to easiest.

West Group C is 2026’s “group of death.” It pairs the reigning Western Conference champion Spurs, who reached last year’s Cup final, with a retooled Lakers roster still chasing its first Cup title since 2023, plus a Warriors team that can beat anybody on a given night. There’s no easy get-well game in that group.

On the other end, East Group C is the softest draw on paper — the Celtics are a clear favorite, but the rest of the group (Hawks, Hornets, Bulls, Wizards) is made up of teams still finding their footing, giving Boston a realistic runway toward the knockout rounds.

Keep in mind win totals only tell part of the story — injuries, trades, and how seriously a team’s coaching staff treats these particular four games can flip a “soft” group upside down fast.

How Teams Advance

The winner of each of the six groups and the best second-place team in each conference move on to an eight-team knockout bracket, which runs from the Quarterfinals on Dec. 4–5 to the Championship on Dec. 11.

• The winner of each of the six groups automatically advances.
• The best second-place team in each conference earns a wild-card spot — that’s two more teams.
• That gives you an eight-team knockout bracket: four from the West, four from the East.
• Quarterfinals (Dec. 4–5) and Semifinals (Dec. 8–9) are played in NBA team markets — home-court games for the higher seeds.
• The two conference winners meet in the Championship on Dec. 11 at a neutral site, Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

What’s Changed Since the Tournament Began

The 2026 edition changes the knockout stage: the Semifinals now play at the higher seed’s home arena instead of a centralized host city. The Championship has also moved — after three years in Las Vegas, this year’s final shifts to Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.