Following Atlanta’s and Houston’s wins in Wednesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinal matchups, the semifinals for the NBA’s second annual in-season tournament have been set, with the Hawks, Bucks, Rockets, and Thunder advancing to the final four.
Both games will be played on Saturday, December 14, and the matchups and tip-off times are as follows, per the league (Twitter link):
- Atlanta Hawks vs. Milwaukee Bucks (3:30 pm Central time)
- Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (7:30 pm CT)
Both games will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with the winners squaring off in the NBA Cup final on Tuesday.
Players on the team that win the NBA Cup will be awarded $514,970 apiece in prize money, while bonuses for the runner-up team will be worth $205,988 apiece and the semifinal losers will receive $102,994 each. In each instance, the bonuses for players on two-way contracts will be worth half that amount.
Players on the Knicks, Magic, Warriors, and Mavericks will receive bonuses of $51,497 apiece ($25,749 for two-way players) after being eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Those four teams have also had an extra game added to their regular season schedules to ensure they get the necessary 82. Those games will be played on Sunday, Dec. 15 and are as follows:
- New York Knicks at Orlando Magic (5:00 pm CT)
- Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors (7:30 pm CT)
Since both Dallas and Golden State played on the road in the NBA Cup knockout round, the Mavericks will be the unlucky team that ends up with 42 road games and 40 home games on its schedule this season, since they were the lower-seeded quarterfinalist. The Magic played on the road in the quarterfinals, while the Knicks lost at home, so the home/road schedules for the Eastern clubs will be evenly balanced.