The release of the NBA Cup group play schedule Wednesday gives Pacers fans two marquee home games to circle on the calendar against the teams who may be the favorites to win the Eastern Conference. One of those will be broadcast nationally.
The Pacers will host the defending NBA champion New York Knicks at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. in a rematch of the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals and a game that will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime network. Then on Nov. 27, the Pacers host the Philadelphia 76ers at 7:30 p.m., which means LeBron James and Jaylen Brown come to town in new uniforms after James signed in free agency and Brown was traded from Boston.
The Pacers open NBA Cup group play on Oct. 30, the opening night of the event, on the road at Miami where they will see Giannis Antetokounmpo in a Heat uniform after his offseason trade. They also play the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Friday, Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
The Pacers are part of what would be called in soccer parlance a “group of death” thanks to their franchise-worst 19-63 finish last season when they were missing All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton due to a torn right Achilles tendon. Teams are randomly assigned to groups, but only after they’re tiered according to last season’s regular season finish.
The four other teams in the group all reached the postseason last year. The Knicks rode the Eastern Conference’s third seed to the NBA title. The Cavaliers finished fourth in the East and lost to the Knicks in the conference finals. The 76ers finishing seventh but stunned Boston in the first round before losing to the Knicks in the conference semifinals. The Heat reached the play-in round as the No. 10 seed but lost to Charlotte. Of course, the group was bolstered by the offseason entry of James and Antetokounmpo, two players with multiple MVP awards.
The champions of the groups and a wildcard team in each conference will advance to the knockout round for the quarterfinals on Dec. 4 and 5. The semifinals will be held Dec. 8 and 9 and the championship game will be played at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse on Dec. 11. Prior to this season, the championship and semifinals had been held in Las Vegas.
The full NBA schedule for the 2026-27 season will be released at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers-Knicks matchup in NBA Cup play will be televised on Prime
Reporting by Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
