The Knicks are taking on the Magic with a chance to advance and face the winner of the Spurs–Thunder matchup for their first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament championship. But does it really matter? Beyond some added exposure under the bright lights of Las Vegas, is tonight’s game anything more than just another regular-season contest?
Yes, the result does count toward the regular-season standings. However, if the Knicks were to win tonight and advance to their first Cup Final, that final game itself
would not. In fact, reaching the championship would actually require the Knicks to play an 83rd regular-season game.
So if the Knicks do move on, how much should fans really care? This is only the third Cup in league history, and neither of the previous winners, the Lakers in 2023 or the Bucks in 2024, went on to win an NBA championship that same season.
In 2023, the Lakers went a perfect 7–0 during the inaugural In-Season Tournament, defeating the Pacers to claim the first Cup championship in league history. They celebrated with champagne and goggles, just as NBA Finals champions do. But once the bottles were empty, reality set back in. Los Angeles stumbled through the remainder of the regular season, finishing 47–35, good for the eighth seed, before being dispatched by the Denver Nuggets in five games in the first round of the playoffs.
Much like the Lakers the year prior, the Milwaukee Bucks also went undefeated during the second annual In-Season Tournament, defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder to claim the Cup.
For the Thunder, the Cup loss proved meaningless. They went home, regrouped, and ultimately captured the first NBA championship in franchise history. The Bucks experienced the opposite fate, mirroring the Lakers before them with a first-round playoff exit once the games truly mattered. Milwaukee claimed the Cup, but Oklahoma City the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
As the Knicks get ready to face the Magic as 5.5-point favorites, a win tonight really only adds one more mark in the win column and earns them a spot in an extra, exhibition-style game, likely as underdogs against a favored Thunder team.
For the players, the stakes are real. There is a $218,000 difference between winning the Cup and finishing second, and that absolutely matters in the locker room. But for fans, it hits differently. What happens if a star player gets hurt in what is, at the end of the day, an exhibition game? The stats will not count, and neither will any individual milestones that happen on that floor.
So if the Knicks do advance to the tournament championship game, how much should fans really care? The game is in Las Vegas. Player health is on the line. It is another night of wear and tear in a long season where the numbers do not matter, but an injury certainly does. And when June rolls around, if the Knicks are not lifting the trophy that actually counts, how much will that cup really mean?
