The knockout stage of the 2024 NBA Cup is underway, and four teams are still alive in the fight for the in-season tournament title: the Bucks, Hawks, Thunder and Rockets. The semifinals are on Saturday, and the title game is Tuesday night, with all remaining games being played in Las Vegas. More than just a trophy and bragging rights are on the line.
Players on all eight teams that made the knockout round receive monetary bonuses. But there's a major difference in what players will receive if they win the NBA Cup vs. just making the quarterfinals and losing. Here's a breakdown of the compensation amounts for players that make it past the group stage:
- Players who lose in the quarterfinals: $51,497
- Players who lost in the semifinals: $102,994
- Players who lose in the championship game: $205,988
- Players who win the NBA Cup: $514,971
So players on the Knicks, Magic, Mavericks and Warriors -- who all lost in the quarterfinals earlier this week -- are getting $51,497. The losers in the semifinals will get double that amount.
The payouts are slightly higher than last year's in-season tournament in accordance with the league's CBA, which states that the prize money will increase by taking the base number from the first year of the NBA Cup and multiplying it by the "Basketball Related Income" (BRI) growth factor.
"For each subsequent Salary Cap Year: (A) for each [NBA Cup] Player on the Team that wins the [NBA Cup] Finals Game, an amount equal to $500,000 multiplied by the "BRI Growth Factor" for such Salary Cap Year; (B) for each IST Player on the Team that loses the IST Finals Game, an amount equal to $200,000 multiplied by the BRI Growth Factor for such Salary Cap Year; (C) for each IST Player on a Team that loses an IST Semifinals game, $100,000 multiplied by the BRI Growth Factor for such Salary Cap Year; and (D) for each IST Player on a Team that loses an IST Quarterfinals game, $50,000 multiplied by the BRI Growth Factor for such Salary Cap Year."
The BRI growth factor, according to the CBA, is "a fraction, the numerator of which is BRI for the immediately preceding Salary Cap Year and the denominator of which is BRI for the 2022-23 Salary Cap Year; provided, however, that the NBA and Players Association may agree to reduce the BRI Growth Factor for one (1) or more Salary Cap Years to a smaller fraction with value of no less than one (1)."
So basically, there was a nearly 3% increase in prize money across the board for the NBA Cup, a figure which should continue to rise each season as the league continues to make more money.
For players on two-way or 10-day contracts, the CBA states they "shall count as one-half of a knockout stage game for which such player was on the Team's Active or Inactive List." That means a player on a two-way contract on the team that wins the NBA Cup title in 2024 would receive $257,485.50 instead of the $514,971.
