The NBA Cup, formerly known as the In-Season Tournament, wasn’t well-received during it’s initial announcement. However, the second edition of the NBA Cup is coming with some more hype surrounding the tournament.
The six groups of five teams begin their journey on Tuesday, as the Dallas Mavericks are in a group with the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors.
With the group’s biggest threat outside of the Mavericks being the Warriors — Klay Thompson’s reunion in the Bay Area will come with legitimate stakes on the line, and he knows it.
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“It’ll be good to see people I grinded with, obviously,” Thompson said. “But to me, it’s just another regular season game in November. Of course, there are bigger implications with the NBA Cup, so that’s what’s on my mind. I want to win that because I haven’t been a part of it yet.”
As the Mavericks are set to tip off their NBA Cup journey against the Warriors on the road, odds were revealed for each team to win the tournament this season. Last season, the Los Angeles Lakers won the trophy and raised a banner.
This season, the Mavericks are tied with the Lakers at +1600 for the seventh-best odds to win the NBA Cup this year.
Given their group, Dallas will have a strong chance to make the knockout rounds, which go to the group winner for each of the six groups, with two “wildcard” teams making the cut based on record and point differential.
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