NBA Cup adds more incentive as Knicks take on Magic at MSG
Knicks center Jericho Sims (20) dunks against Phoenix Suns guard Monte Morris during the first half of an NBA game Nov. 20 in Phoenix. Credit: AP/Ross D. Franklin
GREENBURGH — Does the NBA Cup really mean anything?
How much do players really care if their team wins an in-season tournament that was introduced last year as a way to get fans to pay more attention to the NBA before Christmas?
The answer to that could depend on both the amount of a player’s contract and the amount of empathy he has for his lesser-paid teammates.
Each player on the NBA Cup winning team will receive a $500,000 bonus. For a player like Jalen Brunson, who signed a four-year, $156.5 million extension with the Knicks this offseason, that’s not a significant pay day.
Yet, as Brunson’s Knicks prepare to host the Orlando Magic Tuesday night with a chance to move deeper in the in-season tournament on the line, Brunson says he has plenty of incentive to try to stay in contention for the Cup title.
“It would mean a lot. It would mean a lot for us to get there and do all that,” Brunson said. “You have guys on the team who may be on one-year contracts or two-ways, or whatever. And you get to go out there and try to win for them, and it means a lot. I’m not going in thinking, ‘How is this going to benefit me?’ I’m thinking, ‘How is this going to benefit the team?’ There are games on the schedule, they matter, and we have to go out there and win them.”
For a player like Jericho Sims, who has a base salary of $1.93 million, a bonus of $500,000 would be more than a quarter of his salary.
The Knicks must beat Orlando Tuesday in the NBA Cup group play finale in order to advance to the knockout round of the tournament.
Orlando and the Knicks have 3-0 records in East Group A play, meaning the winner of Tuesday’s game will win the group and the automatic bid that comes from having done so.
Two wild card teams from the conference will also advance, and will be selected on the basis of point differential in the four group games.
If the Knicks defeat Orlando, they will host one of the wild card teams in a knockout round game next week. The winner of that will be one of the four teams that head to Las Vegas for the semifinals Dec. 14 with the winner of that playing for the championship on Dec. 17.
Regardless of the tournament implications, the Magic are a significant early test for the Knicks.
The Magic (15-7) have won six straight and 12 of their last 13 games. Their success has been a testament to their surprising depth as star forward Paolo Banchero has been sidelined for 17 games with a torn abdominal muscle. In his absence, Franz Wagner has stepped up and is averaging a career-high 23.4 points.
Defense has also been behind the Magic’s surge. Orlando has the third-best defensive rating in the NBA behind, Oklahoma City and the Rockets. This ought to be an interesting challenge for the Knicks, who have the league’s top-rated offense and have won seven of their last nine games after having a rough start to the season.
“They’re a very good team and they are firing on all cylinders right now,” Josh Hart said. “This will be a good test for us.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
