After a couple of years of speculation and another year of finalizing details, the NBA officially approved an in-season tournament to be played as a part of the new collective bargaining agreement. The new tournament will take place over five weeks from November 3rd to December 9th, featuring a world cup-esque format of a group stage followed by knockout rounds.
The teams were divided into conferences – as the NBA does – and then drawn randomly into three groups of five teams per conference. The draw was arranged in multiple pots based on each team’s regular season finish during the 2022-23 season in an attempt to make each group fairly divided.