The NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament is in full swing, and it’s been a great experience. Fans of the game and the players have enjoyed the unique format that unlocked much-needed in-season competition. Commencing on November 3 and culminating in the title game on December 9, this event introduces a new trophy to the season, innovative courts (whether you love them or hate them), and a single-elimination knockout stage to determine the ultimate in-season tournament champion in Las Vegas. Let’s look at some of the important details in how the NBA In-Season Tournament works before we get to the bracket.

Tournament Format: Divided into two stages much like the World Cup and Olympics —the group stage and knockout rounds—the tournament kicks off with all 30 teams randomly placed in groups of five within their conferences. Each team plays four group stage games, facing off against every team in their group once. Six group winners, along with two “wild card” teams boasting the best records among non-group winners, progress to the knockout rounds. All group stage games, quarterfinals, and semifinals count as regular-season games, while the championship in Las Vegas does not affect regular-season standings.

In-Season Group Play vs. Regular Season Games

While the in-season group play games count toward your regular season record, not all of them are in-season tournament games and seeding isn’t based on your traditional FanDuel NBA standings. So how do you know which games are in-season tournament group matches? There’s a few ways.

Group Assignments: To ensure fairness, groups were determined by a random draw, categorizing teams based on their performance in the previous season. Each conference had five groups, with the first group containing the top three teams from each conference’s regular-season records, and subsequent groups following a similar pattern. One way to tell if your team might be playing an in-season tournament game is if your team is playing a team from your group also referred to as “group play.”

Courts: Perhaps the easiest way to tell your team is playing an in-season tournament group game is that the courts are completely different than what you’re used to seeing; the designs are colorful, bold, and divisive. If you’ve watched NBA in the past, you can immediately and viscerally tell that the teams are participating in the In-Season Tournament Group Play

Schedule: Another way to tell is the calendar. Group stage games run from November 3-28, and group play only happens on Tuesdays and Fridays during this span. Those with the best records and point differential advance to the bracket where the quarterfinals occur on December 4-5, hosted by the higher-seeded teams, while the semifinals and championship move to Las Vegas on December 7 and December 9, respectively.

Tiebreakers: In the event of tied records, tiebreakers include head-to-head performance, point differentials, total points in the group stage, regular-season records from 2022-23, and, if needed, a random drawing.

Printable NBA In-Season Tournament Bracket

When it comes down to the tournament itself, the bracket is no different than your typical single-elimination 8-team bracket you would see at the Elite Eight stage of March Madness. The only difference is that the bracket is seeded and separated by conference. You can download and print out the above blank In-Season Tournament bracket in image format or in PDF.

One last thing, in addition to individual accolades include an In-Season Tournament MVP and an all-tournament team, every team that advances to the In-Season Tournament will receive monetary bonuses and that number goes up the further that team advances. There’s substantial prize pool awaits teams reaching the knockout stages, with In-Season payouts as follows:

• Quarterfinal losers: $50,000 per player
• Semifinal losers: $100,000 per player
• Championship losers: $200,000 per player
• Championship winners: $500,000 per player

The NBA’s In-Season Tournament bracket not only introduces an exciting new dimension to the regular season that ups the competition level but also offers players a chance to earn significant rewards based on their team’s success.