We’re now in Year Three of the NBA Cup, which means most people now have at least a vague idea of how it works. The NBA picks groups out of a Sorting Hat, every team in those groups plays games against one another, and the six group winners and two wild cards advance to the knockout stage, where more than $500,000 is on the line for every player on the team that wins the Cup.
While LeBron James was motivated to make history in the inaugural NBA Cup, most players’ interest in the Cup largely revolves around the money. That prize is effectively a rounding error for the highest-paid superstars in the league, but it’s life-changing money for second-round picks, undrafted free agents and players on two-way contracts.
Players around the league haven’t been shy about admitting that, either.
With that in mind, we’ve highlighted the NBA’s biggest Cup RespectersTM.
Jaden McDaniels, Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves have yet to make it past the round-robin stage of the Cup. They were tied with the Phoenix Suns at 3-1 in 2023-24 for the wild-card spot, but the Suns beat them on point differential (plus-34 to plus-30).
The Timberwolves got off to a strong start this year by annihilating the Utah Jazz, 137-97. After the game, Jaden McDaniels said he and his teammates are intent on making the knockout stage this year.
Go get that money, Jaden.
Cole Anthony, Milwaukee Bucks
This is some absolute sicko behavior from Cole Anthony.
Like the Timberwolves, the Magic also missed out on a spot in the knockout round in 2023-24 because of point differential. Orlando, Boston and Brooklyn all finished tied atop Group C at 3-1, but the Celtics won the group because of their plus-27 point differential. The Magic (plus-22) and Nets (plus-20) were no match for the New York Knicks’ plus-42 differential for the wild-card spot.
Anthony is clearly still scarred by that.
“I’m like, ‘Yo, this is some B.S.,’” he told reporters ahead of the Bucks’ first Cup game this year. “Messin’ with my money.”
The Bucks got off to a strong start in pool play this year with a 126-110 win over the Chicago Bulls. However, tough games still loom against the New York Knicks and Miami Heat, both of which are on the road.
Anthony’s past experience with the Magic could make him an invaluable locker-room presence as the Bucks look to defend their Cup title this year.
“You gotta look at it all through the same (lens), ‘cause we can say ‘Oh, it’s not that serious right now’ and lay an egg and you know, knock on wood, lose a game, and we might be out and not even in contention for the rest of the (pool play),” Anthony told reporters. “We might not even have a chance to qualify. I think we just gotta take this game very seriously.”
Jaylin Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder came up short in the Cup final last year against the Bucks, which cost them roughly $300,000 per player. One player in particular might have taken that the hardest.
As the Thunder made their run to the final, multiple players said Jaylin Williams—the No. 34 overall pick in the 2022 draft—was motivating their locker room.
“J-Will has been adamant about winning the money,” Jalen Williams told reporters after the Thunder clinched Group B last year. “So doing it for J-Will.”
“J-Will is less into the scenarios and more into the money,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added. “He just made sure across the locker room, we understood how important this game was, essentially in a nutshell, all day and every chance he got.”
J-Will effectively confirmed what his teammates said with one simple emoji.
Although the Thunder didn’t win the Cup last year, each player did reportedly earn $828,000 for winning the NBA championship, according to Kurt Badenhausen and Lev Akabas of Sportico. Williams also landed a three-year, $24 million contract this past offseason, so at least the Thunder got him some extra Lamborghini money either way.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Unlike J-Will, the NBA Cup’s prize fund isn’t a major incentive for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has nearly $340 million in career on-court earnings alone. However, he recognizes the impact that it can have on his teammates and people around the Milwaukee Bucks organization.
“The money does not matter to me,” he told reporters last year after the Bucks won the NBA Cup. “It never mattered. If it mattered to me, I wouldn’t be who I am, I wouldn’t keep on pushing myself to the limit to improve every single year.
“But, I understand that this is life-changing money to people. I’m happy we’re able to give that to a lot of players within our team and not just players—the coaching staff, physios and people that helped us win this trophy. This is a great moment for the team.”
It was a particularly big deal to Liam Robbins, one of the Bucks’ two-way players last year. Players on two-way contracts earned roughly $580,000 in total last year, but the two-way players on the Bucks also took home an extra $257,000 for winning the Cup.
“We have this joke within the team about our two-way guy Liam,” Antetokounmpo said. “I promised him from the first Cup game, I said, ‘We’re going to go all the way and you’re going to get your house in Iowa.’ So after every game I was like, ‘One step closer to your house in Iowa!’
“After the game, we went to the locker room and I saw smiles on their face.”
The Greek Freak wasn’t kidding, either.
Kyle Kuzma, Milwaukee Bucks
Kyle Kuzma didn’t arrive in Milwaukee until after their Cup championship, so he missed out on the $500,000 payday last year. However, just being around a group of Cup champions has clearly taught him the value of the Cup.
“Being here, obviously winning last year, and just every game we come and try to win and I think that you get up a little bit for it,” Kuzma told reporters after the Bucks’ win over the Bulls in the first game of group play this year. “You definitely get up, and as the years have gone, I can definitely see the importance of it because you need these type of games throughout the year just to fulfill that competitive part of your soul.”
No mention of money? Just a desire to “fulfill the competitive part of your soul” with a regular-season game that has extra stakes? Now that is a true Cup Respecter.
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
The inaugural NBA Cup in 2023-24 wound up being a launching pad for Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers.
Despite missing the playoffs the previous season, the upstart Pacers stormed through group play with an undefeated record. They proceeded to beat the Boston Celtics (who wound up winning the NBA championship later that season) and the Bucks (whom they’d eliminate in the playoffs later that season) before meeting LeBron and the Lakers in the Cup Final. Although they fell short there, they traded for Pascal Siakam one month later, advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals that season, and came within one game of winning the NBA championship this past year.
While the NBA Cup doesn’t deserve all of the credit for the Pacers’ recent success, that run did give Haliburton his first real taste of playoff-caliber basketball.
“The in-season tournament is probably the first time that I’m really competing to win a championship on the NBA level,” Haliburton told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps in November 2023. “I’ve never made the playoffs or anything, so right here it gives me the chance to be able to do that, and that’s exciting for me.
“There’s definitely some more juice to those games, and it’s exciting. It’s an exciting time for the league and you know, I think we’re all trying to push the in-season tournament to be a bigger thing because everybody wants there to be some meaning to it.”
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle told Bontemps that “opportunities to be on more meaningful stages is something that’s important for young teams.” The Pacers’ front office might have been emboldened to take a risk like trading for Siakam upon seeing Haliburton lead the team on such an unexpectedly deep run in the Cup.
“Guys might think, ‘Oh, the season’s long. If we lose this one, we’re OK.’ But I think there’s some heightened juice to that to be like, ‘No, no, no. Yeah, the season’s long. But we want this game, we want it now,’” Haliburton told Bontemps. “I’ve been loving that aspect of the in-season tournament. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Dishonorable Mention: Doc Rivers, Milwaukee Bucks
While multiple current members of the Bucks have clear reverence for the Cup, head coach Doc Rivers does not appear to feel the same way.
He also nearly dropped the Cup trophy after the Bucks won last year.
The Bucks proceeded to lose in the first round of the playoffs and spent an entire offseason dealing with speculation about Giannis’ long-term future in Milwaukee, in case you don’t believe in karma from the basketball gods.
