The jury is still out on the Emirates NBA Cup.
The in-season tournament format was meant to inject more life into regular-season contests, adding stakes ahead of the NBA postseason that simply didn’t exist to this magnitude before.
NBA Cup play still has its detractors. Chiefly, fans who belittle the accomplishment of winning the NBA Cup because, to them, the NBA Cup “doesn’t matter” compared to an NBA championship.
Well, it certainly does seem to matter to the players on at least one basis: money.
As with most things in the United States, money continues to be the motivating factor when it comes to NBA Cup performance. At least that’s the conclusion of ESPN’s Tim Bontemps reporting on what coaches and players had to say of the format this year.
Among players interviewed for Bontemps’ story was Phoenix Suns wing Ryan Dunn. Dunn is still on a rookie deal, set to make roughly $2.6 million this season and around $2.7 million in 2026-27.
For players at the end of the bench not yet making the extremely lucrative contracts of the league’s stars, the $500,000 cash prize per player is nothing to sneeze at.
"A lot of people in the league don't make the funds of all the franchise players, the superstars," Dunn said, per Bontemps. "Having that chance, having that opportunity is big for them."
"You want to win for those [two-way] guys,” he added.
In the case of the Suns, who took a historic beating from the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Cup quarterfinal, the two-way players include guard Jamaree Bouyea, former second-round pick Isaiah Livers and 2025 second rounder Koby Brea.
If nothing else, the NBA Cup is helping teams build camaraderie with those guys at the end of the bench who’d see that $500K bonus as extremely significant compared to stars and starters who’ve already signed eight-figure contracts.
"[Jaylin Williams] reminds us the exact dollar amount every single day," Thunder forward Jalen Williams said prior to OKC’s loss to the Spurs in the NBA Cup semifinals, according to Bontemps’ story.
"Half a million dollars is a lot of money, regardless if you make what I make or whatever the case may be, you know what I mean. That's enough money to get you going and play hard," he said.
Money definitely seems to be the biggest motivating factor, but the spotlight the league shines on teams earlier in the season can’t be overlooked.
While financial gain gets the attention of the players, fans have the opportunity to see the league’s best teams compete in a playoff-like atmosphere well before postseason rolls around.
The semi-final showdown between the Thunder and Spurs was particularly noteworthy, as superstar Victor Wembanyama made his return from a calf injury to guide San Antonio over OKC.
The loss was just the Thunder’s second all season, snapping a 16-game winning streak and denying OKC a chance at becoming the first team in NBA history to win both the NBA Cup and NBA title in the same season.
The Spurs move on to the NBA Cup finals to play against the New York Knicks on Tuesday, Dec. 16.