The NBA has announced a revamped in-season tournament format for the 2026-27 season featuring a Final Four weekend event in Las Vegas with a $5 million per-player prize pool, addressing criticism that the inaugural tournaments lacked sufficient stakes.
New Format
The restructured tournament compresses the group stage and adds higher stakes throughout.
- Group stage reduced from 4 to 3 games, all played on Friday/Tuesday TV windows
- Single-elimination knockout rounds with reseeding after each round
- Final Four hosted at new Las Vegas arena over a single weekend in December
- Winning team players each receive $5 million (up from $500K in 2024)
- Tournament champion receives automatic top-4 playoff seed regardless of regular season record
Player Buy-In
The dramatic increase in prize money and the playoff seeding incentive are designed to ensure star players take the tournament seriously. The $5 million individual prize would make it the richest team sport prize per player in American professional sports, exceeding Super Bowl winner shares.
