Picture your team’s opening night matchup dropping on your feed with zero context — just a city name and a tip-off time. Is that a home game? Are they finally getting revenge on a team that beat them twice last year? For 45 of the Cup’s 60 Group Play games, that’s exactly the situation most fans are stuck in, since coverage tends to stop at the handful of matchups getting a national broadcast. Below, every single one of those 60 games is laid out by group, with the home and away side marked for each, so you can find your team and know exactly what’s coming.
Group Play for the Emirates NBA Cup 2026 tips off Friday, October 30 and runs through Friday, November 27, with all 30 teams split into six groups of five. Each team plays the other four teams in its group exactly once — two games at home, two on the road — for four Group Play games total. Curious which teams landed together before diving into the schedule? Check out our breakdown of the 2026 Cup groups.
Where the Home/Away Pattern Comes From
Each team’s two home and two road games in Group Play are fixed by the “pot” it was drawn into, not by luck of the schedule. We’ve already broken down that pot-by-pot pattern — along with tiebreakers, wild-card rules, and knockout seeding — in our Emirates NBA Cup rules and format guide, so we won’t repeat it here. What follows is the part that guide doesn’t cover: the actual matchups that pattern produced, filled in game by game for all six groups.
Western Conference — Every Group Play Matchup
West Group A Denver · Houston · Phoenix · Dallas · Utah
| Away | Home |
|---|---|
| Houston | Dallas |
| Utah | Dallas |
| Dallas | Denver |
| Houston | Denver |
| Phoenix | Houston |
| Utah | Houston |
| Denver | Phoenix |
| Dallas | Phoenix |
| Denver | Utah |
| Phoenix | Utah |
West Group B Oklahoma City · Minnesota · LA Clippers · New Orleans · Memphis
| Away | Home |
|---|---|
| Oklahoma City | LA Clippers |
| New Orleans | LA Clippers |
| Oklahoma City | Memphis |
| LA Clippers | Memphis |
| LA Clippers | Minnesota |
| Memphis | Minnesota |
| Minnesota | New Orleans |
| Memphis | New Orleans |
| New Orleans | Oklahoma City |
| Minnesota | Oklahoma City |
West Group C San Antonio · LA Lakers · Portland · Golden State · Sacramento
| Away | Home |
|---|---|
| LA Lakers | Golden State |
| Sacramento | Golden State |
| Portland | LA Lakers |
| Sacramento | LA Lakers |
| San Antonio | Portland |
| Golden State | Portland |
| San Antonio | Sacramento |
| Portland | Sacramento |
| Golden State | San Antonio |
| LA Lakers | San Antonio |
Eastern Conference — Every Group Play Matchup
East Group A Detroit · Toronto · Orlando · Milwaukee · Brooklyn
| Away | Home |
|---|---|
| Detroit | Brooklyn |
| Orlando | Brooklyn |
| Milwaukee | Detroit |
| Toronto | Detroit |
| Toronto | Milwaukee |
| Brooklyn | Milwaukee |
| Detroit | Orlando |
| Milwaukee | Orlando |
| Orlando | Toronto |
| Brooklyn | Toronto |
East Group B New York · Cleveland · Philadelphia · Miami · Indiana
| Away | Home |
|---|---|
| Philadelphia | Cleveland |
| Indiana | Cleveland |
| New York | Indiana |
| Philadelphia | Indiana |
| Cleveland | Miami |
| Indiana | Miami |
| Miami | New York |
| Cleveland | New York |
| New York | Philadelphia |
| Miami | Philadelphia |
East Group C Boston · Atlanta · Charlotte · Chicago · Washington
| Away | Home |
|---|---|
| Charlotte | Atlanta |
| Washington | Atlanta |
| Chicago | Boston |
| Atlanta | Boston |
| Boston | Charlotte |
| Chicago | Charlotte |
| Atlanta | Chicago |
| Washington | Chicago |
| Boston | Washington |
| Charlotte | Washington |
Which Games Are on National TV
Of the 60 total Group Play games, 15 are confirmed for national broadcast across Prime Video, NBC, and ESPN, including a Black Friday doubleheader on Prime Video to close out Group Play and a Thanksgiving Eve tripleheader on ESPN. Every other game is still played on the same seven Cup Nights — Oct. 30, Nov. 6, Nov. 13, Nov. 20, Nov. 24, Nov. 25, and Nov. 27 — but airs on local or regional broadcasts instead. If your team isn’t in a nationally televised slot, that doesn’t mean the game isn’t happening on schedule; it just means you’ll need to check your team’s regional feed.
Reading the Groups: What the Home/Away Split Actually Means for Fans
Since home and away is fixed by pot number rather than opponent strength, two teams in the same conference can end up with very different-looking home slates depending purely on which pot they landed in. Scan the group tables above alongside last season’s standings, and you can spot at a glance whether a team’s two home games are against a rebuilding club or a genuine contender — the schedule alone won’t tell you that, but the matchups will.
For everything else about the tournament — past champions, key dates, the pot system explained from scratch, and how to watch — our Emirates NBA Cup 2026 homepage has the full season guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does every team play all four of its group opponents?
Yes. Each of the 30 teams plays exactly one game against each of the other four teams in its group, for four total Group Play games — two at home, two on the road.
How is home and away decided for each matchup?
It’s determined by pot number, not by team name — our rules and format guide (linked above) breaks down the full pot-pairing pattern. The tables on this page show what that pattern actually produced for this year’s groups.
Can the home/away assignments change before the season starts?
The groups and pot-based home/away pairings are locked in once the draw is completed. Individual tip-off times and TV assignments for non-nationally-televised games can still be finalized or adjusted closer to each Cup Night.
What happens after Group Play ends?
The winner of each of the six groups, plus one wild-card team per conference, advances to the single-elimination Knockout Rounds, which run from early December through the Championship.
Where can I find my team’s exact tip-off times?
Check your team’s official schedule page for confirmed tip-off times, especially for games not on the national broadcast slate.