The third installment of the NBA Cup is officially in the books, but it left us with questions. What does the rise of Wemby mean for the league? How serious are the Knicks? And what is the future of the tournament? The six writers who reported from Vegas for The Athletic this week weigh in with what they saw and heard.
1. What is your biggest basketball takeaway from your time in Vegas?
James Edwards III: OG Anunoby is an All-Star this season. It’s really hard to argue against it at this point, other than the fact he missed two weeks with an injury. He’s the Knicks’ best defender, best 3-point shooter and just adds another layer of fear to this New York team that is absent without him. I think it’s hard to name 15 players in the East better than he’s been this year.
Josh Robbins: Anunoby elevates the Knicks to a level they cannot reach without him. Anunoby’s one of the league’s best, most versatile defenders, and his ability to hit an open 3 is important to the Knicks’ offense. Players and coaches within the league have known Anunoby’s value going back to his days in Toronto, but he’s criminally underrated outside of the league. Of course, Jalen Brunson is New York’s most important player, but Anunoby’s value is critical.
Zach Harper: I won’t say the Rise of Wemby, but definitely the Return of Wemby reminded us of what we already know. Yeah, he had a stinker in the NBA Cup final, but that game doesn’t count for the real stats and records anyway. Wemby impacts the game in ways few ever have, and we have to remind ourselves he can barely drink in this country. Tons of mistakes and tons of undeniables with him in his two games (sort of) back from injury. I’m not sure he’s scratched the surface of anything he’ll be. Just needs to be on the court.
Joe Vardon: That everyone needs to CALM DOWN … ha. What I mean is, we cannot allow the Spurs’ run through this thing to tell us they arrived. Not yet. They are still very, very young in spots with some of the most important players having never been to the playoffs. Also, I couldn’t help looking out on the court Tuesday and thinking, ‘the Spurs are going to be so fun to watch, for a long time.’ Come on, Victor, stay healthy buddy, the sport needs you. And the core around Wemby is beyond impressive, if not quite yet complete.
Sam Amick: No, sir, Mr. Vardon, I will not hop off this Wemby/Spurs hype train. As I wrote after they fell short against the Knicks in the finale, that message-sending win over OKC in the semifinal was the most meaningful moment of them all. To hand the Thunder their second loss in 26 tries — on a stage of some substance, no less — was to make you wonder if this group can grow into a true title contender much faster than we’d expected. Now that being said, the schedule gods have gifted OKC with an incredible chance to get its revenge very soon: The Thunder play at San Antonio on Tuesday, then host the Spurs in front of a Christmas audience just two days later. If they take care of business in both of those games, then perhaps I’ll consider your advice about calming down. Maybe.
Jared Weiss: I guess I have to bring this Spurs debate to a close since I’m the one with them every day. Judging them has been an exhausting process because, frankly, every step forward has been met with some subtle dose of reality that they are not yet playoff-ready. That doesn’t mean they aren’t going to be one of the better teams in the league this regular season or they won’t be ready for the postseason by the time it arrives. But they are just so early in their process of understanding who they are and how they fit together. We saw it at the end of the Knicks game, when their three point guards shared the floor with Wemby and couldn’t find a rhythm. But that was their first time all playing together. More experience together should yield more growth.
2. What was the biggest on-court moment that caught your attention?
Amick: Late in the fourth quarter of the title game, when a few of us reporters were debating in real time on press row who should be deemed the Cup MVP, Jalen Brunson made the decision easy when he buried a floater over De’Aaron Fox that put the Knicks up five with 3:41 left. Considering Fox likely would have been the winner if the Spurs had won, and that the Spurs point guard followed Brunson’s bucket with a misfire of his own (courtesy of a Josh Hart block), that sequence sealed the deal for me when it came to the award. Brunson’s line wasn’t pretty — 25 points on 11-of-27 shooting overall (one of five from three) to go with eight assists and four turnovers — but the dominant fourth quarter (35-19) in which he played all 12 minutes was the difference.
Edwards: Tyler Kolek hitting a 3 and then pointing in Wembanyama’s face. It perfectly encapsulated the confidence of this Knicks team and the changes under Mike Brown. Kolek, a second-round pick last year, played 20 minutes in a semi-important game. He had big moments in the fourth quarter. New York doesn’t hoist the trophy without his contributions, and credit to Brown for being willing to experiment and ride with the hot-hand youngster.
Weiss: Like James said, the Kolek shot over Wemby was special. It epitomized what we want the cup to become, a showcase for emerging talent and a chance for teams to establish themselves and change the agenda of the regular season. It was spicy, it was thrilling and, most importantly, it was hilarious. I came to Vegas to see a show and Kolek made it happen.
Harper: It was the final 9.8 seconds of Thunder-Spurs taking 12 actual minutes. Maybe that’s not the biggest on-court moment, but it allows me to further my agenda that the competition committee needs to fix this problem at the end of games. They brought in the “take foul” to stop teams from messing up the flow and entertainment of games to stop fastbreaks in the backcourt with a cheap, intentional foul. And yet, we’re good with teams intentionally fouling when they’re up three in the final seconds of the game? God forbid we have a team actually attempt a game-tying 3-pointer in the clutch. This needs to be ended as soon as possible so we can watch some basketball at the end of games.
Robbins: Wembanyama’s return Saturday after a one-month absence because of a calf strain was must-watch basketball. That’s the easy answer here, but it’s also the correct one, in my opinion. For Wemby and his teammates to outscore the league’s best team by 21 points during his 21 minutes on the court was electric.
Vardon: I THINK it was either Stephon Castle, or maybe Fox, or, who knows, but someone threw a lob to Wembanyama and he caught it with his back to the basket, mid-air, and reverse dunked. He can be a more potent lob threat than Shaq, except he can also be a floor spacer. At 7-5. Oh my God.
3. There was lots of discussion about the NBA Cup’s future. What is your biggest takeaway on the vibe in Vegas?
Edwards: I was in Las Vegas for about a week, and if I weren’t there specifically to cover the NBA Cup, I wouldn’t have known it was happening. There weren’t a bunch of people walking around with Knicks, Magic, Thunder or Spurs gear unless it was in or around the arena close to game time. I stayed on the Strip and it wasn’t obvious what was going on. Sure, there was a billboard, but there are a million billboards in Las Vegas. The crowd for the semifinal game was underwhelming. Ahead of the final, I met someone who worked for a third-party company that helps fill seats – which is common for big events like the Oscars and such.
This was nothing like Summer League. Only four teams were in Las Vegas, and then two. Summer League feels like an NBA takeover. This didn’t feel like that.
Harper: The vibe was inconsistent and odd, but when the crowd embraced the moments of Wemby, the Spurs and the Thunder, it was spectacular. At times in the Knicks-Spurs game, that place got loud. I don’t know if expecting people to come to Vegas on a random Tuesday in December on a whim when their team makes the championship is viable and sustainable. But I’m not sure that’s the case for getting them to the Duke or Kansas campuses either. At least with Vegas, you can expect a level of tourism there.
Robbins: When we’re talking about atmosphere — whether it’s NBA Cup games in Vegas or a regular-season game anywhere — the players make the moment. The atmosphere when Wemby faced the reigning NBA champion Thunder was electric because of Wemby’s magnetism and because of the Thunder’s overall excellence.
Vardon: Guys, I’ll work on Edwards. He’ll come around. Look, this is my third NBA Cup. It felt the most natural, operated the best of the three, and gave us the best on-court product. The crowds for Thunder-Spurs and Spurs-Knicks were excellent … for this event. Sellouts, few empty seats, acceptable volume from the crowd. I think expectations of “vibe” are way too high, and everything else about the tournament fundamentally works.
Weiss: The main thing I noticed was the teams enjoying being in Vegas. The Spurs had only 36 hours at home in the past 3.5 weeks. They could have folded and enjoyed a week off at home to just sleep in their own beds. Trust me, as someone who has been away from home the whole time, it has been as exhausting as it’s been fun. But they were committed. They saw the big-picture value for them as they are trying to turn into a contender. They wanted the money. They got to enjoy the craps tables and the Michelin star restaurants. Sure, selling tickets and getting a good crowd matters for the league and the teams. But this tournament is more so about ratings than gate revenue. I don’t think the vibe for the fans matters as much for the future of the tournament than it does the players.
Amick: I’m bringing up the back end here because I was only there for the finale, meaning I missed out on the Spurs-Thunder special that everyone deemed so electric. That being said, the crowd for the title game wasn’t bad at all. It’s never going to rival a playoff atmosphere, but it had a whole lot more juice than your typical mid-December regular-season affair. As for the scene outside of the arena, the harsh truth about having it in Las Vegas is that you’re always going to be competing with hundreds — thousands, probably — of other entertainment options. As such, it just feels like one of the many things happening in Sin City as opposed to something special. I literally had an Uber driver tell me they had no clue the tournament was in town.
4. Do you sense the players have become more or less invested in competing for the Cup since its inception?
Amick: To hear Mike Brown tell it in his on-court interview after the Knicks won the whole thing, the answer is a resounding yes.
“All of our guys took it seriously,” he said of their Cup journey. As he said that to Amazon’s Taylor Rooks, you could see Mitchell Robinson in the background pointing to the ‘Champions’ word on his new hat. This is a good example of the coach setting a certain tone for his players, as it was widely known that Brown truly valued the chance to win the whole thing. His players, it seemed, responded in kind. Overall, I’d say players have grown more invested in Cup competition as they’ve grown to get more comfortable with the format and the stakes (and the money, of course).
Edwards: Knicks players were adamant that they want to win every time they step out on the court, no matter the circumstances. So, from that standpoint, they want to win the Cup because it means that they keep winning. I still don’t get the sense that the Cup is viewed as this grand accomplishment.
Harper: I think players buy in and become invested toward the end of group play when that “trip to Vegas” carrot is out in front of them. I don’t get a great sense that it’s any more competitive in the early group-play games, matchups withstanding. But the players definitely seem to realize the opportunity when they’re a game away from the next step.
Robbins: I think something that Jonathan Isaac said after the Magic’s quarterfinal win is the most accurate assessment of how important the Cup is to players. Isaac said: “I think the guys that aren’t making it or either get kicked out (in the group stage) have the same feeling like, ‘This is stupid. We shouldn’t be doing this.’ But when you’re in it and obviously there’s the money piece of it and there’s the team piece of it, we want to win it, you know? So, when we’re playing the game, it means everything. But when you’re from the outside looking in, it’s hard to be motivated about it.”
Vardon: More. For those of you who don’t know, I live in Cleveland. The amount of texts I received from family and friends back home comparing the level of play they saw on TV, in Vegas, to, ahem, what they’re watching night in and night out … tells me that the Cup knockout games do elevate play. The first three winners of the Cup: LeBron James and the freaking Lakers; Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks; and the World Famous New York Knicks. Brunson isn’t the star that LeBron or Giannis is, but my point is, for all this talk about a lack of prestige, the first three winners of this thing have a lot of cache. There is a kid watching these games right now who is going to be in the NBA in five or six years, and on his to-do list will be to win an NBA Cup. You watch.
Weiss: There was a moment after a Cup game where I was walking to the press room and a player from the losing team walked by. As he reached the double doors toward the back halls, he smacked a door as hard as he could and let out a loud expletive. Leading a train of dejected players who were shaking their heads and staring at the ground, he showed how much they cared about winning that game. After the Knicks won, they celebrated with the trophy for hours back at the team hotel. This meant something to them and their families. They were clear about it. The Spurs felt the same way, talking along the way about how this would be their first chance to win something real after rebuilding for years. It means something. As time goes on and tradition builds into history, it will mean more.
5. Should the Cup remain in Vegas in your opinion? If it moves, where should it go?
Amick: If it was only about the environment at the game itself, I would say it’s time to relocate. This floating idea of taking it to a celebrated college venue could be really fun. But you might run into a problem when it comes to the players’ level of interest, as the allure of Vegas is a major reason that so many of them want to make it to the final round. That’s not going to be the case if you’re fighting for the right to head to Durham, N.C. (Duke’s Cameron Indoor stadium has been reported as a possibility). Then again, maybe that’s where the shift in structure — only the title game will be at a neutral site starting next year as opposed to the final two rounds — helps the NBA’s cause. It’s not like you’ll be asking them to hang out for a week in that city like they have these past three years.
Edwards: I don’t mind the championship being at a neutral site, but it should leave Las Vegas. It’s too far for most Eastern Conference teams and can cause more scheduling conflicts (for example, the Knicks went from Toronto to New York, for one day, to Las Vegas and then to Indianapolis). It’s crazy that they had to do that before they even went on their normal west coast trips that are scheduled.
The semifinal should be played at the higher-seeded teams home arena so that the fans can enjoy the Cup toward its final stage without having to take a small vacation before the holidays. The final, though, should be played somewhere in the middle of the country. Let’s do Chicago or St. Louis or even Omaha. If the goal is to celebrate the basketball that the NBA has to offer, then it shouldn’t matter if the championship is in a “party” city or not.
Harper: You need a city the players are going to want to be in, and I think Vegas is that city, if we’re trying to keep the site neutral. Players want to be there, and I don’t know if you’re selling them on random midwestern cities or random college towns. I don’t think Vegas is a perfect venue, but it might be the best we have at our disposal.
Robbins: I think a neutral site makes the semifinals and championship game more of an “event.” But there’s been a fundamental problem the last three years. The timespan between the quarterfinals and the semifinals has been so brief that it’s perhaps cost-prohibitive for most NBA fans to book flights on short notice from their home bases to Vegas, and then back home. And if those flights aren’t too expensive, then perhaps the short timespan makes it too difficult for fans to change their work schedules on short notice. In a vacuum, Vegas is great because of all of its hotel rooms, and its relatively warm December weather. The problem with Vegas is that, with the exceptions of Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix, it’s too far away for fans to drive to on a whim.
Vardon: Yes, it should remain in Las Vegas, which is already the satellite capital for the league. I don’t see how any other idea for a neutral site solves the fundamental concern of fan interest, and Las Vegas is a warm destination city that also has a population interested in attending major sports events. If you continue to remind the electorate that the NBA Cup, which is growing in popularity, finishes in Las Vegas, on-site interest will increase. Promise.
Weiss: Arriving in Vegas helped underscore how the location fits into the big picture of how the teams make the Cup enticing for the players. There are few places in the country that players want to spend a few days than Vegas. It also has the convention infrastructure to hold league meetings, sponsor activations, generate content and whatever else the league can do to make this seem like a spectacle. There’s a reason the league convenes the summer league in Vegas, even though it’s 110 degrees every time we come through.
6. If you had a magic wand and could change one thing about the NBA Cup right now, what would it be?
Edwards: I’d like to see the top two teams from the previous G League season involved, as well as a European team or two. The NBA wanted to copy European soccer tournaments, but the difference is that teams in Spain might run into a team from Norway, or Tottenham might have to travel and play at a third-tier English club. The Cup is just the same teams playing one another for the third, fourth or fifth time. Imagine LeBron James and Luka Dončić having to play in Grand Rapids? That’s unique. While highly unlikely, it also opens the door for legitimate upsets. Who doesn’t love those?
I know you asked for one change, but I have one more: stop the propaganda. The NBA has high-level basketball being played every single night, whether the court is colored or not. There have been more than a dozen games not part of the Cup that were as entertaining and tightly-contested as the championship was between the Knicks and Spurs. The NBA had to create this Cup because it’s struggling to market its own product properly. THERE ARE GOOD GAMES EVERY NIGHT! PLAYERS DON’T PLAY HARDER JUST BECAUSE THE COURT IS GREEN!
Harper: Put the entire thing into a two- or three-week span. I think part of the problem of general buy-in on this (outside of the horrendous courts assaulting our eyes) comes from how split up it is with the rest of the regular season. “I’m sorry, which nights are NBA Cup games again? Every Friday except for some random days in the final week?” I know the schedule sucks to begin with, but if it all happened in the same span, and it was only those games, you’d probably get a better understanding of it.
That, and let’s get NBA Europe involved in it when that’s established. How would that work with regular-season games? It’s not my job to solve that problem. Just offer up a half-baked idea idea and then walk away like flicking a cigarette at a gas station in an action movie.
Weiss: Let’s make it last longer! I’m coming at this as a fan of the Cup, from the courts to the final to the incessant debate about whether it should even exist. Everyone complained about the regular season being monotonous for so long, the NBA listened and found a way to make the regular season have different contours and inflections. It was desperately needed. Adam Silver noted at his news conference Tuesday that the league’s November ratings were up, making it clear that the cup is designed to boost ratings during the NFL season and create a bridge until the Christmas Day slate brings the casual fans back into the fold. I’d just like to see this last longer and carry into the early spring, bringing more purpose to the lull after the All-Star break. It would also be ideal if they could do the semifinal on Friday and the championship on Sunday. Doing the title game on a Tuesday in a tourist-laden city doesn’t make much sense.
Robbins: For a moment, let’s accept the debatable narrative that players play harder in NBA Cup group-stage games and knockout games. If those games are indeed more intense, does that mean the regular-season games over the several weeks after the Cup ends are less intense than they otherwise would be? Or that fans perceive those subsequent regular-season games as less intense? If those subsequent regular-season games are a comedown, then I would try to find a way to ramp up those games. But I cannot think of an easy solution.
Vardon: OK, what about this – if you win the NBA Cup and make the playoffs, you get home-court advantage for one more series than you otherwise earned via your record? So let’s say the NBA Cup champ makes the playoffs as an No. 8 seed. They get to host Game 1 of the first round against the No. 1 seed, instead of the other way around. Or, let’s say the NBA Cup champ is a No. 4 seed for the playoffs, and would then have home court for the first round anyway. In this scenario, if the No. 4 seed advances to the conference semis – that team, and not the No. 1 seed – would host Game 1.
Amick: There are some great ideas in here, so I’ll just give a standing ovation for the crew while doubling down on James’ idea of integrating European teams. Considering the league’s plans to launch NBA Europe as soon as 2027, it would be a great way to start acquainting fans with the newest members of this basketball family.
7. And finally, the big question: Should NBA teams mark an NBA Cup championship with a banner?
Edwards: This is my rule of thumb: If you hang division banners, you should hang the NBA Cup banner. If you’re a franchise that only hangs banners for NBA championships or conference championships, then I don’t think you should hang one for the NBA Cup. But if you’re a franchise that hasn’t won a ton – those are the teams that tend to hang division banners – then you shouldn’t feel too big to hang one for the Cup.
Harper: Ultimately, yes. I’m sorry you’re not too good for hanging an NBA Cup banner in the Mecca of basketball when you had a Hulk Hogan banner at one point. Division banners are OK, but the Cup banner isn’t? Have a cool-looking banner with the trophy and then just add years to it when you win it. It doesn’t have to be the same as the championship banner for the NBA Finals. I don’t want to hurt your sense of accomplishment and have it overshadow the Taylor Swift tour sellout banner that’s on the other side of your retired jersey numbers. Grow up and hang the banner!
Robbins: No, they shouldn’t put up NBA Cup championship banners yet, because I think doing so would, by subtle implication, diminish the importance of any NBA championship banners and any retired numbers already up in the rafters. Is winning the Cup an achievement? Yes, it is. But I don’t think it’s close to the same level as winning an NBA championship or winning a postseason conference title.
Still, I would never say never. Let’s see how the in-season tournament concept plays out. If the Cup endures for many more years and ultimately gains the prestige that NBA officials hope it gains, then perhaps retroactive banners would be appropriate at that time.
Vardon: Yes. As Patrick Beverly once said …”if Bron hoopin, we all hoopin.” If the NBA Cup was worth a banner to LeBron and the Lakers, it should be good enough for any franchise.
Weiss: Of course you do. If you’re holding a giant trophy, how do you not hang a banner for that? There are some buildings, like in Boston, where they only hang championship banners, so they should be grandfathered out of this policy. But if the league wants the Cup to become legitimate, then they gotta ask teams to hang the banner. It helps legitimize the tournament and creates more historic lore over time.
Amick: This whole conversation about the banner annoys me. Yes, hang the damn thing. It can be handled, and hung, in the kind of way that makes it clear it’s not nearly as valuable as an NBA title banner (if you have one). And the fact that the Knicks are apparently not going to hang theirs is just silly. Never mind that Brown made it clear after the game that he wanted that thing to go up at Madison Square Garden (several players did, as well).
“Any time you can participate in any event where you’re the last one standing, and you’re able to hang a banner – especially at iconic MSG – you take that seriously,” he said.
Alas, it appears longtime owner James Dolan — who has been at odds with the league about anything and everything these days — had other plans. Read the room, Jim. You just stole some of the joy they worked so hard to earn. Congrats.
