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The 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament has reached the quarter-final stage. The Boston Celtics (+300) are favored to win the competition outright, but they will face stiff competition from the likes of the Milwaukee Bucks, the Phoenix Suns, and the LA Lakers. Also in the mix to win the inaugural NBA Cup is the Sacramento Kings. In our latest NBA betting picks, we look at the NBA futures market to win the competition outright, and we also name our betting picks to win the inaugural cup.
- What; 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament
- When; November 3rd – December 9th 2023
- Final; T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada (Sat, 9th @ 8.30 pm ET)
What is the NBA In-Season Tournament?
Anybody looking at the NBA fixtures or recent results may have been distracted by seeing the In-Season Tournament written next to some of the upcoming or recently concluded matches.
You are not going mad, this is correct. The NBA In-Season Tournament is a new competition that was announced by the NBA on July 8th, 2023. The competition sees teams compete for the NBA Cup. Whoever wins it will go down in history as the first team to ever win the competition.
All 30 NBA teams entered the competition when it started on November 3rd, Drawn into groups of five within their conferences, all sides played four matches on Tournament Nights.
These matches also contribute towards the regular NBA season, as do all the knockout games, except for the Championship final. The NBA will balance out the schedule at a later date in the season to level off the extra matches played by the teams who made it through to the knockout stages.
The eight teams who qualified for the quarter-finals were the six group winners, along with two wildcards, made up of the best second-placed teams from each conference.
The six group winners were the Lakers, Pelicans, and Kings from the West. With the Pacers, Bucks, and Celtics, the three table-topping teams form the East groups. The Phoenix Suns were the wildcard pick from the West, with the New York Knicks taking the berth in the East.
Everyone loves a bracket…
The NBA In-Season Tournament moves on to the Knockout Rounds!
Quarterfinals: Dec. 4 & 5
Semifinals: Dec. 7
Championship: Dec. 9 pic.twitter.com/7yoDMwe9Xe— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) November 29, 2023
Betting to win the 2023 In-Season Tournament
A first glance at the betting to win the NBA Cup might make you believe you are looking at the betting to win the NBA Championship, as three of the four favorites are the same in both competitions.
The Boston Celtics are the favorites to win with the best NBA Basketball betting sites. The Celtics are +300, putting them just ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks at +350. Third in the betting is the Sacramento Kings at +550. The Suns and the Lakers are next at +575. The two Western Conference rivals were the top two teams in West Group A, with the Lakers winning four from four and the Suns winning three of their four matches. In the conference, not much separates them, and whoever wins their showdown at the Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday will find themselves far shorter in the betting to be the champions.
The final three teams in the betting are the Indiana Pacers (+1000), the New Orleans Pelicans (+1100), and the New York Knicks (+1400). The Pacers face the Celtics in their quarter-final, with the Pelicans away at the Kings and the Knicks facing the Bucks in Wisconsin.
If you are new to the sport and unsure about how all these odds work, then check out our how to bet on Basketball guide. When you’ve done that, be sure to check out our NBA In-Season Tournament basketball odds table for more betting options on the competition. For our odds, we only use the top-rated NBA betting sites.
| 2023 NBA Cup Winner Betting |  |  |  |
| Boston Celtics | +300 | +300 | +300 |
| Milwaukee Bucks | +350 | +350 | +350 |
| Sacramento Kings | +550 | +550 | +550 |
| Phoenix Suns | +575 | +575 | +575 |
| LA Lakers | +575 | +575 | +575 |
| Indiana Pacers | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
| New Orleans Pelicans | +1100 | +1100 | +1100 |
| New York Knicks | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
Our Picks to win 2023 NBA Cup
The Boston Celtics started the 2022/23 season strongly, before falling away after Christmas and never really looking like winning the 2023 Championship. This season, they have started strongly again, and with this competition finishing in the next week, they are understandable favorites.
The Celtics have lost four this season, all on the road. Despite this, they still sit top of the Eastern Conference, 1.5 wins clear of the Magic and the Bucks. The Bucks look to have an easier quarter-final match on paper. But we would expect to see the Celtics emerge from the East side of the draw.
The Sacramento Kings are the team with the shortest odds to win the NBA Cup on the West side of the draw. Despite this, we expect to see the winner of the match between the Lakers and the Suns in the final on Saturday night.
We are making Boston one of our picks to win this competition. But given their average record on the road this season, we are going to name a second pick. This, just in case the Pacers upset the Celtics on Monday.
The LA Lakers have a strong home record this season (8-2). But on the flip side, the Suns have been decent on the road (7-3). Even so, we are going for the Lakers home form to win out over the Suns away form in California on Tuesday. And as we expect whoever wins that showdown to also reach the final, the LA Lakers are our second pick to win the NBA Cup.
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