The Miami Heat court for all NBA Cup games at Kaseya Center during the 2025-26 season. Courtesy of the NBA/Miami Heat
The Miami Heat is playing a game with stakes in November.
No, it’s not playoff stakes. But the Heat is playing a pivotal NBA Cup game on Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks at Kaseya Center for its fourth and final group-stage contest that will go a long way in deciding if Miami advances to the in-season tournament’s knockout round for the first time.
▪ With a victory against the Bucks on Wednesday, the Heat can win its group and potentially host an NBA Cup quarterfinal game on Dec. 9 or 10 at Kaseya Center if the New York Knicks lose one of their final two group-stage games. The Knicks’ final two group-play games come Wednesday against the Hornets in Charlotte and Friday against the Bucks in New York.
▪ Even if the Knicks win both of their remaining group-play games, a win against the Bucks on Wednesday would put the Heat in good position to advance to the NBA Cup’s knockout round this year after failing to advance past the group stage of the first two in-season tournaments.
While the Heat wouldn’t win its group in this scenario, it would be the front-runner to advance to the knockout round as the Eastern Conference’s wild card. The team from each conference with the best record in group play that finished second in its group qualifies for the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup as the wild card.
While there will likely be other teams with one loss in the group stage that are tied with the Heat for the East’s wild card spot, Miami has an advantage because it enters Wednesday with the best point differential in group-play games (plus-46) among the East’s other current one-loss teams. This is important because point differential in group play will be the first factor used to break ties among teams across different groups within the conference.
▪ With a loss to the Bucks on Wednesday, the Heat would no longer be able to win its group and would only be able to advance to the knockout round as the East’s wild card.
The Heat would only be eliminated from contention for the NBA Cup’s knockout round with a loss to the Bucks paired with a Detroit Pistons road win against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
Even with a loss to the Bucks, the Heat would still be in contention for the quarterfinals of the in-season tournament if the Pistons lose to the Celtics on Wednesday. In this scenario, the Heat’s NBA Cup fate would be decided on the final day of group-play on Friday, based on the results from other Eastern Conference games.
Miami Heat center Kel'el Ware (7) high-fives guard Pelle Larsson (9) with teammates Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) and Tyler Herro (14) during the second half of a game against the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 24, 2025, at Kaseya Center. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
The Heat’s five-team group includes the Heat, Chicago Bulls, Knicks, Bucks and Charlotte Hornets. The group’s current standings are: Bucks 2-0, Heat 2-1, Knicks 1-1, Bulls 1-2 and Hornets 0-2.
With the NBA’s 30 teams randomly drawn into six groups of five within their conference based on win-loss records from the 2024-25 regular season, the winner of each of the six groups and two wild cards (the team from each conference with the best record in group play that finished second in its group) — a total of eight teams — will advance to the knockout single-elimination rounds of the NBA Cup.
If two or more teams are tied within a group, the tie among the teams will be broken according to the following tiebreakers (in sequential order): head-to-head record in group play, point differential in group play, total points scored in group play, regular-season record from last regular season and random drawing. Overtime scoring will not count towards the point differential and total points tiebreakers.
If two or more teams are tied for the wild card in a conference, the tie among the teams will be broken following the same tiebreaker protocol, with the exception of the head-to-head record in group play. Ties within groups will be broken before the calculation of wild card tiebreakers.
Despite the recently added wrinkle of the in-season tourney, every team continues to play 82 regular-season games. That’s because every game in the NBA’s in-season tournament will count toward regular-season stats and standings, except the championship game.
The 22 teams not advancing to the quarterfinals will play two regular-season games on either Dec. 11 or 12 and Dec. 14 or 15 to fill the missing two games in their standard 82-game schedules.
The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each play a regular-season game on Dec. 11, 12, 14 or 15 to fill the missing game in their 82-game schedules.
For the four teams that win in the quarterfinals, their 82nd game will come in the semifinals.
And the two teams that advance to the championship game will play an extra game (83rd game) for the in-season tournament title that won’t count toward the regular season.
The quarterfinals will be played in NBA team markets on Dec. 9 and 10. These games will be hosted by the two teams with the best record in group play games from each conference, and the team with the best record in group play from each conference will host the wild card team in their respective conference.
The semifinals and championship game of the event will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 13 and Dec. 16.
What’s at stake in the in-season tournament? The NBA Cup trophy and bonus money for the quarterfinalists, semifinalists, runner-up and champion.
Each player on the four teams that lose in the quarterfinals of this year’s in-season tournament will get $53,093, each player on the two teams that lose in the semifinals will get $106,187, each player on the team that loses in the championship will get $212,373 and each player on the team that’s crowned champion of the tourney will get $530,933.
THANKSGIVING EVENT
Heat stars Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, through their respective foundations, teamed up for a Thanksgiving grocery store pop-up on Tuesday to support underserved families at Charles Hadley Park in Miami.
“Being able to impact the community always brings me back to life,” Adebayo said. “This is my calling, this is what I’m here for, just to share joy and go out here and just give people something to be glad about.”
The pop-up event offered clothing and shoes, medical and wellness services, groceries, Thanksgiving meal essentials, games and activities.
“To come out here and just support the community, give back as much as possible, put smiles on people’s faces, that’s all you can ask for,” Herro said.