Top 5 Futures For The 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament

2023 NBA In-Season Tournament Betting Details

This month, the 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament designates every Tuesday and Friday (except for Election Day) as tournament nights, hosting all scheduled games as tournament games. Six five-team groups engage in games where each team plays the others once. The six group winners progress to the quarterfinals, alongside two wild-card teams composed of the best second-place finishers.

The quarterfinal matches are scheduled for December 4 and 5 at the locations of the higher-seeded teams. Semifinals take place on December 7 in Las Vegas, with the final game set for December 9 in the same city. Fourteen teams kick off their tournament journey on November 10, while Orlando and Atlanta start their schedules on November 14, and Toronto's tournament debut is on November 17.

Teams that don't make the quarterfinals will play yet-to-be-scheduled regular-season games on December 6 and December 8. On December 8, there will also be regular-season games between the teams that lost in the quarterfinals.

The winning team receives a cash incentive of $500,000 per player, while quarterfinalists and semifinalists earn smaller prizes, amounting to a total prize pool of approximately $18 million. The tournament features the NBA Cup, alongside recognitions for an MVP and an All-Tournament team.

Each tournament game counts as one of the 82 regular-season games for all participating teams, except for the championship game. The exclusion is to prevent the teams in the championship from playing 83 games, which could affect the fairness of standings among the 28 clubs.

2023 NBA In-Season Tournament Groups

East Group A: Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Indiana and Detroit.

East Group B:  Milwaukee, New York, Miami, Washington and Charlotte.

East Group C: Boston, Brooklyn, Toronto, Chicago and Orlando.

West Group A: Memphis, Phoenix, the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah and Portland.

West Group B: Denver, the Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans, Dallas and Houston.

West Group C: Sacramento, Golden State, Minnesota, Oklahoma City and San Antonio.

2023 NBA In-Season Tournament Rounds

The 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament starts with Group Play, where all 30 teams were randomly sorted into groups of five within their conference, based on their 2022-23 regular-season win-loss records. Between November 3 and November 28, each team plays four designated Group Play games on "Tournament Nights", facing each group opponent once, twice at home and twice on the road. In cases of tied standings within a group, tiebreakers are employed, considering head-to-head records, point differentials, total points scored, previous regular-season records, and potentially a random drawing as a last resort.

From the Group Play, eight teams progress to the Knockout Rounds: the top team from each group and two "wild card" teams (the best second-place finishers from each conference). The Knockout Rounds consist of single-elimination games, starting with the Quarterfinals on December 4 and 5, hosted in NBA team markets. The subsequent Semifinals and Championship rounds determine the winner of the new In-Season Tournament trophy, the NBA Cup, alongside competing for a prize pool.

Top 5 NBA In-Season Tournament Bets

Celtics To Go 4-0 In Group Play Games (+145, FanDuel): With the addition of both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, this Boston team is off to an undefeated and dominant start. In a group with Brooklyn, Toronto, Chicago and Orlando, I simply don’t see Boston losing unless they have a very poor shooting night. At +145 odds, this may not be a “value” bet (if parlaying all four moneylines together), but I think this is a better option than the -150 odds on them to win East Group C.

76ers To Win East Group A (+155, FanDuel)

The Sixers will have to get past Cleveland, Atlanta, Indiana and Detroit, which I don’t think will be an issue for them. With reigning MVP Joel Embiid at the helm and Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris and Kelly Oubre all playing solid ball, this team will be difficult to beat for these opponents. The Cavs have been dealing with injuries. The Hawks have been wildly inconsistent already. The Pacers can’t play defense at all and the Pistons are really young and rebuilding. 

LeBron James To Average 30+ Points In Group Play Games (+550, FanDuel)

It’s pretty clear to me that King James isn’t going to win an NBA title with this Lakers team this season. With that being said, this is a chance for him to win the first-ever NBA Cup, which is something that could matter to him since it’s an accolade he doesn’t have yet (nobody does). Los Angeles needs LeBron to score every night based on the roster construction and at +550, this is worth a sprinkle.

Celtics To Win NBA Cup (+800, FanDuel)

As mentioned above, I expect Boston to cruise through Group Play and think they’re the best team in the NBA right now. While I’d also consider betting the Nuggets (+850) to win, there are so many ways this Celtics team can beat you and so many players that can step up if a teammate has a bad night. 

Jayson Tatum To Win NBA In-Season Tournament MVP (+1400, FanDuel)

Unsurprisingly, I’m going with a Boston player to win the Tournament MVP award and I have a hard time believing anyone other than Tatum would put up the numbers required for that to happen. Averaging just under 30 points and 10 rebounds per game this season, Tatum will also be in the running for NBA MVP at season’s end, but as far as this tournament is concerned, I think he’s the best bet on the board. Also consider Jokic (also at +1400), but only if you think the Nuggets will get the job done.

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