The NBA Cup semifinals will no longer be played in Las Vegas beginning in the 2026-27 season.
During the board of governors meeting on Wednesday, the league announced the semifinals for the NBA Cup will be played at team arenas. The finals, however, will still be held at a neutral site.
Since the league added the NBA Cup to the schedule in the 2023-24 campaign, the semifinals and finals have been played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The following was released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/Md0uIQXmme
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) September 10, 2025
Vegas will still host the final two rounds of the tournament this season. Those games will be played on Dec. 13 (semifinals) and 16 (finals), according to NBA.com.
The NBA did not confirm if Las Vegas would remain the host site for the championship game after the 2025-26 season, but the league did state that future games will be played at a neutral site.
For example, the two semifinal games of the 2024-25 NBA Cup tournament would have been played at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee and Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
The Bucks and Thunder won their semifinal games, defeating the Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets, respectively.
NBA Cup Set For Third Edition In 2025-26
The 2025 NBA Cup will tip off on Friday, Oct. 31 in team markets and culminate with the semifinals (Saturday, Dec. 13) and championship (Tuesday, Dec. 16) taking place at T-Mobile Arena.
The NBA Cup consists of two stages — group play and the knockout rounds.
All 30 teams were randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on win-loss records from the 2024-25 regular season.
The East and West groups were unveiled in July.
Each team will play four designated group play games on “Cup Nights,” which will take place beginning Oct. 31 and continuing through Nov. 28.
Following group play, eight teams will advance to the knockout rounds. Those teams include two wild cards and teams that have the best standing in group play games in each of the six groups.
In fact, the wild cards will be the team from each conference with the best record in group play games that finished second in its group.
Meanwhile, the knockout rounds will consist of single-elimination games in the quarterfinals (Tuesday, Dec. 9 and Wednesday, Dec. 10), semifinals, and championship.
The knockout teams will compete for a prize pool and the NBA Cup championship trophy.
The 2025-26 NBA season tips off Tuesday, Oct. 21.
