Detroit Pistons 2026 NBA Cup schedule revealed. Here's who they face

The Detroit Pistons will tip off their four-game 2026 NBA Cup slate on Oct. 30. Before the NBA Cup gets underway, they will start the regular season on Oct. 20 in a national TV against the Boston Celtics. The game will start at 3 p.m., making it the first game of the entire 2026-27 season. More: Det

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What is the story about?

The Detroit Pistons will tip off their four-game 2026 NBA Cup slate on Oct. 30.

Before the NBA Cup gets underway, they will start the regular season on Oct. 20 in a national TV against the Boston Celtics. The game will start at 3 p.m., making it the first game of the entire 2026-27 season.

How does 2026 NBA Cup work?

The tournament, taking its lead from European-style brackets, consists of two stages – group play and the knockout rounds. In July, teams were randomly divided into six groups of five, three for each conference. The Pistons are in East Group A with the Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks.

The Cup will tip off Oct. 30 and will be played every Friday through

Nov. 27, with additional “Cup Nights” on Tuesday, Nov. 24, and Wednesday, Nov. 25. The top team in each group will make up six of the eight teams in the knockout rounds, with the remaining two "wild card" teams in the knockout rounds coming from the top second-place finisher in each conference (with a series of tiebreakers in case two or more teams have the same record).

The knockout rounds feature single-elimination matchups: the quarterfinals from Dec. 4-5 and semifinals on Dec. 8 and/or 9 at the higher seed's home, and then the championship at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Dec. 11.

Pistons NBA Cup schedule

The Pistons' NBA Cup games are:

10/30: @ Nets, 7:30 p.m.
11/20: vs Raptors, 7:30 p.m. (Prime Video)
11/24: @ Magic, 7 p.m.
11/27: vs Bucks, 7:30 p.m.

What happens to the teams that don't advance?

The 22 teams that fail to qualify for the quarterfinals will each play two freshly scheduled regular season games, with the first taking place on Dec. 11-12 and the second on Dec. 14-15. At the end of the tournament, a media panel will vote for the NBA Cup MVP and an All-Tournament team.

The four losing teams in the quarterfinals in each conference will play each other in a regular season game on one of those four days.

How did the Pistons do last year?

The Pistons finished 2-2 overall, with wins over the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers before falling to the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic in East Group B.

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