The NBA has released the full schedule of games and nationally televised matchups for Group Play of the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament, which will begin on Friday, November 3, during the 2023-24 regular season.
The full match schedule and national broadcast schedule for the 2023-24 regular season will be announced on Thursday, August 17.
Group Play games, the first of the two phases of the In-Season Tournament, will take place on Tuesdays and Fridays in November. On these “Tournament Nights,” the only NBA games scheduled will be Group Play games.
ESPN and TNT will team up to air 14 games during Group Play. The first Tournament Night (Nov. 3) will feature a doubleheader on ESPN as the New York Knicks visit the Milwaukee Bucks and the defending NBA champions Denver Nuggets host the Dallas Mavericks.
TNT will begin its Group Play broadcasts on Tuesday, Nov. 14, when the San Antonio Spurs play the Oklahoma City Thunder at home and the Nuggets face the LA Clippers in Denver.
Group Play’s national television schedule includes three rematches of the 2023 NBA playoffs. The defending Eastern Conference champions, the Miami Heat, will visit the Knicks on Friday, Nov. 24, and host the Bucks on Tuesday, Nov. 28, and the Golden State Warriors will visit the Sacramento Kings on Nov. 28.
Each team will play four Group Play games from Nov. 3 to Nov. 28: one game against each opponent in their group, with two home and two away games. As previously announced, all 30 teams were randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on their 2022-2023 regular season win-loss records.
Eight teams (four per Conference) will advance from Group Play to the second phase of the In-Season Tournament, the knockout rounds.
The teams that advance will be the six group winners and two “wild cards” (the team from each Conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in their group).
