Thanksgiving is going to be rather busy for the Charlotte Hornets.
That’s when they will host a pair of games at Spectrum Center in the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup, marking the league’s third annual in-season tournament. The Hornets meet the New York Knicks on Nov. 26 before concluding East Group C play against Chicago on Nov. 28, the NBA announced Tuesday.
Charlotte tips off tournament play in Miami on Nov. 7 before playing at Milwaukee on Nov. 14.
After releasing snippets of the 2025-26 campaign over the past two days, the NBA is unveiling the entire 2025-26 regular-season schedule Thursday.
With both NBA Cup home games coming so late in the group stage, it repeats a familiar pattern for the Hornets. They started the tournament on the road in each of the previous two years and played the first two games of group action away from Spectrum Center in 2024-25.
After releasing snippets of the 2025-26 campaign over the past two days, the NBA is unveiling the entire 2025-26 regular-season schedule on Thursday.
Similar to how things worked during the first two renditions of the league’s in-season tournament, the NBA Cup will be played in two stages: all teams get a crack at the action in group play prior to eight teams advancing to the knockout rounds out of the group stage.
The remaining two teams standing will hook up in the championship game on Dec. 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
HORNETS IN GROUP PLAY
The format remains the same as it has previously.
A total of six groups — three from the Eastern Conference, three from the Western Conference — have been put together. The games on these special tournament nights are designated on the league’s schedule, with action taking place on Tuesdays and Fridays from Oct. 31 to Nov. 28. In those groupings, teams play one game against each opponent, splitting the four contests between home and road.
Charlotte’s composite record following group play determines whether it continues on to the knockout round. If more than one team finishes tied in a grouping, a tiebreaker scenario is utilized. In order, they are: group play head-to-head record; group play point differential; points totaled in group play; 2024-25 regular-season record and a random drawing in the highly-unlikely scenario two or more teams are still tied after the other tiebreakers.
NBA IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT KNOCKOUT STAGE
Upon the completion of group play, six teams with the best records in their respective groups advance to the knockout round. There are two wild card teams — one coming from each conference featuring the next best record in group play action — that also get spots in the knockout stage.
Considered the quarterfinals, this round is single elimination and takes place in NBA markets from Dec. 9-10. All knockout round games are going to be streamed on Amazon Prime, one of the NBA’s new broadcast partners along with NBC/Peacock.
Winners progress to the semifinals at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 13, trying to secure a place in the championship game three days later.
CHARLOTTE HORNETS 2025 EMIRATES NBA CUP SCHEDULE
Nov. 7: at Miami, 8:00 p.m.
Nov. 14: at Milwaukee, 8:00 p.m.
Nov. 26: vs. New York, 7:00 p.m.
Nov. 28: vs. Chicago, 7:30 p.m.