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SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs came within one win of capturing the NBA Cup last season. Friday night, they'll begin another attempt at claiming the trophy.
San Antonio's meeting with the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on Friday night marks its first of four Group Play games in the NBA's annual in-season tournament.
The Spurs are competing in West Group C alongside the Portland Trail Blazers and a gaggle of California teams: the Kings, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers.
"It definitely brings some excitement," Spurs forward Keldon Johnson said last week. "I'm looking forward to it. It was great for us last year. As a team, we're looking forward to it."
Last season, Mitch Johnson's squad advanced past the Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder in the Knockout Rounds before falling to the New York Knicks in the championship game. This time, the Spurs will have to navigate a slightly different path.
Here's how the 2026 NBA Cup works, including San Antonio's full schedule:
All 30 NBA teams are divided into six groups of five, with three groups representing each conference. Every team plays four Group Play games on Wednesdays and Fridays, facing each of its group opponents once, with two games at home and two on the road.
The six group winners automatically advance to the Knockout Rounds, joined by one wild-card team from each conference. Those spots are awarded to the second-place teams with the best Group Play records, bringing the field to eight. Once the elimination games are set, teams who did not qualify will receive the final two games of their regular season schedule.
Here is the progression of the #Spurs’ NBA Cup courts over the last three seasons. Left is 2024, middle is 2025 and right is 2026, announced today.
Which one did it best? #PorVida pic.twitter.com/y7P2twbWra
Head-to-head results in Group Play will serve as the first tiebreaker between teams with identical records, followed by point differential. That means the margin of victory could matter as much as the win itself when determining which teams advance.
All Group Play games count toward the regular-season standings, as do the Quarterfinals and Semifinals. The championship game is the lone exception, meaning the two finalists will play an additional game outside the 82-game schedule.
San Antonio will play its four Group Play games across November, with three of the four matchups scheduled for national television. That list is as follows:
The Quarterfinals are scheduled for Dec. 4-5, followed by the Semifinals on Dec. 8-9. Both rounds will take place in NBA team markets, with the higher-seeded teams hosting.
The two remaining teams will meet Dec. 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, where the league will crown its fourth NBA Cup champion. The Spurs' road begins in Sacramento.
A year after finishing as runners-up, they'll have another opportunity to bring home the trophy that eluded them in 2025. They seem keen on making it happen this time around.
"We've just got to continue to get better," Johnson said at shootaround on Friday. "We know there's stakes in place tonight, but I think we just keep the main thing the main thing."
Matt Guzman is a sports journalist and storyteller from Austin, Texas. He serves as a credentialed reporter and site manager for San Antonio Spurs On SI. In the world of professional sports, he’s a firm believer that athletes are people, too. He aims to spotlight the true, behind-the-scenes character of players and teams through strong narrative writing and sharp, hooking ledes.
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