NBA Cup prize money increases for 2024 season tournament

As the NBA developed plans for an in-season tournament — now called the NBA Cup — it considered ways to incentivize players.

Just calling yourself a champion is one way to do that. Adding a cash prize certainly raises the stakes.

Last season, in the first year of the NBA Cup, players on teams that reached the quarterfinals and beyond received additional compensation: $50,000 for players who lost in the quarterfinals, $100,000 for players who lost in the semi-finals, $200,000 for players who lost in the finals and $500,000 for players who won the NBA Cup.

Prize money has increased for the 2024 NBA Cup.

Here are the NBA Cup financial rewards for this season and the reason for the increase:

What is the NBA Cup prize money?

Here are the NBA Cup prize money for players in 2024:

Players from losing quarter-final teams: $51,497
Players from losing semi-final teams: $102,994
Players from the losing team in the championship game: $205,988
Players from the NBA Cup championship game winning team: $514,970

Why did NBA Cup prize money increase?

Prize money increased because players and the league agreed to it in the 2023 collective bargaining agreement regarding basketball-related revenue.

After the first NBA Cup season in 2023, according to the ABC, prize money will increase “for each subsequent salary cap year: (A) for each IST player on the team that wins the IST Finals game, an amount equal to $500,000. multiplied by the “BIS Growth Factor” for that salary cap year; (B) for each IST player on the team that loses the IST Finals game, an amount equal to $200,000 multiplied by the BIS growth factor for that salary cap year; ) for each IST player on a team that loses an IST semifinal game, $100,000 multiplied by the BIS growth factor for that salary cap year; and (D) for each IST player on a team that loses an IST quarterfinal game, $50,000 multiplied by the BIS Growth Factor for that salary cap year.

What is the BIS Growth Factor? According to the ABC, “the BIS growth factor for a salary cap year is a fraction whose numerator is BIS for the immediately preceding salary cap year and whose denominator is BIS for the 2022-23 salary cap year ; provided: However, that the NBA and the Players’ Association may agree to reduce the BIS growth factor for one (1) or more salary cap years to a smaller fraction with a value of at least one (1).

In simpler terms, the prize money represents an increase of approximately 3% from season to season.

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