The Emirates NBA Cup 2026 has already played two of its seven Cup Nights, with games on Oct. 30 and Nov. 6, and the next one lands this Friday, Nov. 13. Every team in the league is in the tournament, and the group stage runs through Nov. 27 before eight teams move on to a single-elimination bracket that ends on Dec. 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. If you want to know which night to circle and where the games are streaming, this page lays it out.
Most Cup Night games are on NBA League Pass, with a handful of national games on Prime Video, NBC and Peacock, and ESPN. Everything below comes from the NBA's own pages, which we read on Nov. 9, 2026. The league lists tip-off times in Eastern Time, so we added Pacific Time for anyone watching on the West Coast.
If you follow a team closely, you can also jump into a fan chat while the games are on, and we point to one near the end of this post.
NBA Cup 2026 dates at a glance
According to the NBA's key dates and schedule page, updated Nov. 7, 2026, the remaining group play nights are Nov. 13, Nov. 20, Nov. 24, Nov. 25 and Nov. 27. The only games played on a Cup Night are group play games, so the whole league is focused on the same tournament those evenings.
Quarterfinals: Dec. 4 and Dec. 5
Semifinals: Dec. 8 and/or Dec. 9
Championship: Dec. 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
The NBA says all Knockout Round games will be streamed on Prime, and the official key dates page notes that Prime Video will stream the Dec. 11 championship.
How the NBA Cup works
The league's NBA Cup 101 explainer says all 30 teams were drawn into six groups of five, three in each conference, using last season's records to sort them into pots. Each team plays the other four teams in its group once, which adds up to four group games with two at home and two on the road. Ties are broken first by head-to-head record, then by point differential, then by total points scored.
Eight teams advance, and they are the winner of each of the six groups plus one wild card from each conference. The wild card goes to the second-place team with the best group record in that conference. Quarterfinals and semifinals are played at the arena of the higher seed, and the championship is the only game in the whole event held at a neutral site.
Do NBA Cup games count in the standings?
Yes, with one exception. The NBA's NBA Cup FAQ says every team still plays an 82-game regular season and that all Cup games count toward the standings except the championship, which sits outside the regular season. The 22 teams that miss the knockout bracket play two regular-season games on the off nights in early December, which is why some team schedules show two games marked TBD.
The same FAQ lists the previous winners as the Lakers in 2023, the Bucks in 2024 and the Knicks in 2025. The champion gets the NBA Cup trophy, and a prize pool goes to the players on teams that reach the knockout rounds.
NBA Cup schedule and how to watch in the US
The list below pulls the national broadcasts and the games with Western Conference Group C teams (Warriors, Lakers, Kings, Spurs and Trail Blazers) from the NBA's list of upcoming group play games. Pacific Time is Eastern Time minus 3 hours. Games marked League Pass are on NBA League Pass, and the full slate for each night is on the official schedule page.
Fri, Nov. 13: Knicks at Pacers, 7:00 PM / 4:00 PM (ET / PT), Prime
Fri, Nov. 13: Warriors at Spurs, 9:30 PM / 6:30 PM (ET / PT), Prime
Fri, Nov. 13: Trail Blazers at Kings, 10:00 PM / 7:00 PM (ET / PT), NBA League Pass
Fri, Nov. 20: Raptors at Pistons, 7:30 PM / 4:30 PM (ET / PT), Prime
Fri, Nov. 20: Rockets at Nuggets, 10:00 PM / 7:00 PM (ET / PT), Prime
Fri, Nov. 20: Kings at Lakers, 10:00 PM / 7:00 PM (ET / PT), NBA League Pass
Tue, Nov. 24: Celtics at Wizards, 8:00 PM / 5:00 PM (ET / PT), NBC/Peacock
Tue, Nov. 24: Mavericks at Nuggets, 10:00 PM / 7:00 PM (ET / PT), Peacock
Wed, Nov. 25: Heat at 76ers, 5:00 PM / 2:00 PM (ET / PT), ESPN
Wed, Nov. 25: Timberwolves at Thunder, 7:30 PM / 4:30 PM (ET / PT), ESPN
Wed, Nov. 25: Kings at Warriors, 10:00 PM / 7:00 PM (ET / PT), NBA League Pass
Wed, Nov. 25: Spurs at Trail Blazers, 10:00 PM / 7:00 PM (ET / PT), ESPN
Fri, Nov. 27: Heat at Knicks, 7:00 PM / 4:00 PM (ET / PT), Prime
Fri, Nov. 27: Lakers at Spurs, 9:30 PM / 6:30 PM (ET / PT), Prime
Fri, Nov. 27: Warriors at Trail Blazers, 9:30 PM / 6:30 PM (ET / PT), NBA League Pass
Schedules can shift, so check the NBA page before tip-off if you are planning a watch party around one game.
A Bay Area guide to the next Cup Nights
Warriors fans have three Group C games left, starting with Warriors at Spurs on Friday, Nov. 13 at 6:30 PM PT on Prime. The Kings game against Golden State on Wednesday, Nov. 25 tips at 7:00 PM PT on NBA League Pass, and the Warriors finish group play at Portland on Friday, Nov. 27 at 6:30 PM PT. Those Friday games fall at a nice hour for an after-work gathering on the West Coast.
Around the South Bay and Peninsula, the evening of Nov. 13 also has a Tribe-organized social night on the calendar, the SBR Poker Night, which starts at 6:00 PM PST and is covered in our poker night post. South Bay Renaissance is the in-person startup and social community Tribe has organized since August 2026, and you can see what else is coming on the Tribe events calendar.
More sports on the calendar this week
The NBA Cup shares the week with plenty of other action. Our NFL Week 10 schedule and how to watch covers the Sunday slate, the ATP Finals guide has the tennis schedule, and the Las Vegas Grand Prix guide covers the Formula 1 weekend. If you run a sports group chat, those pages make it easy to drop one link and settle the question of when everyone is watching.
Talk NBA Cup games with other fans
Cup Nights are a good excuse to watch with people who care about the same games, since several tip off at the same time and the group standings can change with every final score. Tribe has a community for exactly that, where you can swap storylines, trivia and tip-off reminders without ads in the way. Join the NBA Fans group chat on Tribe and bring your Cup Night questions.
You can also browse upcoming in-person gatherings on the Tribe Luma calendar, including events from the South Bay Renaissance crowd, for something to do away from the screen.
