The 2023-2024 National Basketball Association (NBA) season brought one of the most notable changes to regular season basketball in NBA history. It featured the In-Season Tournament, the NBA Cup moving forward.
NBA owners and executives discussed the benefits and potential structure of a regular season tournament for years before officially announcing it. The league devised a schedule that featured all 30 teams in tournament play, and game results counted towards the teams' regular season records. Only the final, contested by the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers in Las Vegas, constituted an extra game for competitors. In addition to renaming the tournament, the NBA introduced Emirates as the event’s title sponsor moving forward.
The first edition of the NBA Cup had a few issues with custom court designs, but the initiative proved successful. Attendance and television ratings for early season games surged when games counted toward tournament standings. The championship game, won by the Lakers, drew the most social engagement for an NBA League Pass game ever. The NBA set an attendance record in 2022-2023 but is on pace to set a new record in 2024.