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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SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah — Multiple basements in Saratoga Springs flooded after Monday afternoon’s rainfall.

Two neighbors spent hours Monday evening in knee-high sewage water, scooping up and shoveling trash clogging a storm drain they believe caused the flooding.

Bonnie Sampson came home from work to find water gushing into her basement.

“It was coming up from the park,” she described. “Just water coming out of the sewer drain.”

The water broke through two windows. She said there was over a foot of water in her basement.

“It was heartbreaking but it can be replaced,” said Sampson.

She’s lived in the home for 22 years and never had a problem until Monday.

“I’ve never seen the flooding like this before,” she said.

Her neighbors jumped into action to help her and the other impacted homes.

Men and women of all ages were doing what they could to deliver food, move furniture, or sandbag problem areas around the local park. More rain is forecasted to come, and the upcoming weather has the neighborhood on edge.

“I’m a little nervous, really nervous, actually, since I have no windows downstairs to stop it at this point,” said Sampson.

As frustrating as the situation is, Sampson finds relief from the helping hands of her neighbors.

“All the support has helped. The support of our whole neighborhood has been awesome and friends and family. That’s what gets you through these times,” she said.

Oscar Tshiebwe is coming off his rookie year in the NBA where he appeared in eight games for the Indiana Pacers.

He finished the season with averages of 3.3 points and 2.0 rebounds per contest while shooting 50.0% from the field.

On Monday, the Utah Jazz announced that they have signed Tshiebwe to a two-way contract.

Via UtahJazz.com: “The Utah Jazz have signed forward Oscar Tshiebwe (SHEEB-way) to a two-way contract. In a related move, the team has waived guard Taevion Kinsey. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released.”

Tshiebwe played his college basketball for West Virginia and Kentucky.

During his senior year, he averaged 16.5 points, 13.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.0 blocks per contest while shooting 56.0% from the field in 32 games for the Wildcats.

Via Evan Sidery: “The Jazz signed Oscar Tshiebwe to a two-way contract.

Tshiebwe, the 2023-24 G League Rookie of the Year, did not receive another contract from the Pacers last week.

Tshiebwe could earn minutes on Utah’s roster with their lack of center depth.”

As for Kinsey, he did not appear in a game for the Jazz last season.

He averaged 11.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per contest while shooting 59.9% from the field and 51.1% from the three-point range in 34 G League regular season games.

The Jazz are coming off a year where they were the 12th seed in the Western Confernece with a 31-51 record.

They missed the NBA playoffs for the second straight season.

More on the Utah Jazz can be read here