The dust has started to settle on the final day of NBA Cup group play, and the Toronto Raptors now know who they’ll be taking on next.
As they prepare to take part in the knockout rounds of the in-season tournament for the very first time, the Raptors will be matched up against the New York Knicks in a battle between Atlantic Division rivals on Dec. 9 (8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT) at Scotiabank Arena.
Toronto is officially the No. 2 seed out East for the second phase of the 2025-26 NBA Cup, thanks to a 4-0 record and plus-55 point differential during group play. The Raptors were the first team this season to clinch their group (East Group A) and advance to the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, the Orlando Magic clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference thanks to a plus-64 point differential to go with their 4-0 record. They’ll face off against a familiar foe in their Florida neighbour, the Miami Heat.
As for the Knicks, they took care of business against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night to claim top spot in East Group C, which secured their spot against Toronto for the next round. The two teams have yet to face off this season, but will very soon when the Raptors visit New York on Sunday for their second game in as many days.
Toronto, as the higher seed, will host New York for their quarterfinals matchup. It’ll be the Raptors’ first taste of elimination-style basketball since a 2023 Play-In loss to the Chicago Bulls.
The NBA Cup semifinals (Dec. 13) and finals (Dec. 16) will be played at a neutral site, T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Heat-Magic and Knicks-Raptors games will create a bit of a schedule quirk. The quarterfinal games count toward the regular season, so Miami and Orlando will wind up playing five times this season — the first time that’s happened since 1993-94 — and the Knicks and Raptors will meet five times as well. The Heat play a regular-season game at Orlando on Dec. 5, their second time there this season, then will go back for a Cup quarterfinal a few days later.
The three remaining Cup quarterfinal spots in the Western Conference were also decided on Friday night. The Los Angeles Lakers — who won the inaugural Cup in 2023 — were the only West team to be assured of a quarterfinal spot going into Friday.
Oklahoma City — the defending NBA champion which is now 19-1 on the season — held off Phoenix to win West Group A and grab a quarterfinal spot, and San Antonio emerged from a back-and-forth battle in the final minutes to beat Denver in the game that decided West Group C and another quarterfinal berth.
Below is the full quarterfinals slate (all times ET):
East
Dec. 9: Miami Heat at Orlando Magic (6 p.m.)
Dec. 9: New York Knicks at Toronto Raptors (8:30 p.m.)
West
Dec. 10: Phoenix Suns at Oklahoma City Thunder (7:30 p.m.)
Dec. 10: San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Lakers (10 p.m.)
What happens next
The 22 teams that miss the quarterfinals will all have two regular-season games added to their schedules in the coming days, to push their total to the full 82. All teams entered the season with only 80 games on the calendar to allow for what happens in the NBA Cup.
Those additional regular-season games for those 22 teams — one will be home, one will be on the road — will be scheduled for Dec. 11, Dec. 12, Dec. 14 or Dec. 15.
For the teams that move on, the quarterfinals become game No. 81. The teams that lose in the quarterfinals will play the other quarterfinal loser from their conference, filling out the remaining game on their schedule.
The semifinals are in Las Vegas on Dec. 13, and those games will also count toward the regular-season standings. The championship game — which doesn’t count in the standings — is in Las Vegas on Dec. 16.
Money matters
Players on the quarterfinal teams will each get $53,903. The payout increases to $106,187 for berths in the semifinals, $212,373 for a spot in the final — and $530,933 for each player on the winning team.
Two-way players will receive half those amounts, if applicable.
— with files from the Associated Press
