On Tuesday, the NBA announced the full schedule for its second annual in-season tournament which has a new name: the Emirates NBA Cup. The announcement clarifies the schedule and gives fans something to look forward to.

Last season’s NBA Cup was broadly viewed as a success and culminated with the Los Angeles Lakers being crowned champions. The Utah Jazz belong to the Western Conference Group B alongside the Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, and San Antonio Spurs. 

Starting November 12, the Jazz will have their group play games each Tuesday for four consecutive weeks. Utah play two games at home, one against the Suns and Spurs, and the other two on the road against the Lakers and Thunder. 

How the NBA Cup works: 

Teams are split into six groups with five teams per group. From there, each team plays the other members of their group once.

A total of eight teams, the winner of each pod and one wildcard per conference, advance to the knockout stage — a single elimination tournament where a champion will be crowned in Las Vegas on December 17. 

In all reality, the Jazz will be fighting an uphill battle just to make it out of their group. The Thunder had the best record in the Western Conference a year ago and are the current favorite to win the conference this year.

The Lakers and Suns boast star power in the form of Gold medalists Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker. The Spurs will look to move up the standings this year behind budding superstar Victor Wembanyama. 

For a Jazz team slowly assembling their foundation, they look like the fifth-best team in their group on paper. Because of this, the Jazz did not crack the national TV schedule for their group play games. 

On the bright side, it should provide Utah’s young core with the opportunity to play in meaningful basketball games with real stakes. How they fare is to be determined, but it no doubt be a fun side story to track early in the NBA season.

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