The NBA In-Season Tournament was a rousing success in its first season. Now called the NBA Cup, the special courts and jerseys established a special aura within the competition, and this tournament gave way to some of the most competitive regular season basketball we have seen in quite some time thanks to the trophy and monetary incentives. Advancing to the quarterfinals of the competition is no joke, however, and the basketball in East Group A of the NBA Cup should provide some good entertainment.

Having the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Orlando Magic should be a treat; those three should be among the best teams in the Eastern Conference for years to come, and having them vie with each other for group supremacy will be interesting to watch. Anything can happen in games between those teams, as it is still early in the season and all of them will be integrating new players into the rotation.

Rounding out the group are the Charlotte Hornets and Brooklyn Nets, two teams that combined for a 53-111 record last season. The Hornets could be better than advertised; they have a new head coach in Charles Lee, Lonzo Ball and Brandon Miller should continue to improve, and they added another solid pro to the roster in Josh Green. Meanwhile, the Nets, despite being a selling team, have the services of Cam Thomas, an unstoppable scorer who can pop off at any given night and lead his team to victory.

Which among those teams will be able to deliver when it matters and separate themselves from the pack? Here are a few predictions for how the basketball will turn out in East Group A of the NBA Cup.

2024 NBA Cup East Group A Predictions

On paper, two teams are clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the group — the Knicks and the 76ers. But games are not played on paper. There may be a few adjustments here and there for both of those teams after adding Mikal Bridges and Paul George, respectively, while integrating new faces up and down the rotation.

The hope for the Knicks and 76ers is that they will hit their stride later on in the season when the playoffs come around. Thus, while doing well in the NBA Cup will be nice, they may not have the same hunger to push for that trophy that the Magic will have.

For starters, the Magic are a young up-and-coming team, and it's usually teams of this ilk that look to stick it to the more established teams. What better way for Orlando to do so than to perform well in the nationally-televised NBA Cup? Moreover, they have the players to suffocate even the Knicks and 76ers on the defensive end, and meeting that level of defensive intensity early in the regular season won't be so easy to deal with for older teams such as the two.

The Magic can put Jalen Suggs on Jalen Brunson and make his life difficult; they also have Jonathan Isaac and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to lock down bigger opponents, while Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are huge, lengthy forwards who are no slouches on that end of the floor either. Their big man depth is also impressive, with three legitimate rotation players in Wendell Carter Jr., Moe Wagner, and Goga Bitadze on the roster. Taking all of those into account, the Magic are a legitimate threat to win their group.

It will now be an interesting battle for second place behind the Magic. No disrespect to both the Hornets and the Nets, but they don't exactly belong in the same stratosphere as the Knicks and the 76ers. The NBA Cup battle between the 76ers and Knicks should decide which team gives itself a shot at making the quarterfinals along with the Magic.

The Knicks lost Isaiah Hartenstein this offseason, and they remain very much thin at the center position. Joel Embiid will be licking his chops, especially when he scored 50 points against them in the playoffs despite being less than 100 percent healthy. That is a major concern for the Knicks.

New York, however, will more than make up for it with their elite perimeter defense. Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby should have little trouble taking turns in defending Tyrese Maxey and Paul George, while the Knicks simply have more top-level depth all around with Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, and Miles McBride. Julius Randle should also be back, which means less defensive attention on Jalen Brunson.

Thus, similar to last season, the 76ers will miss out on the NBA Cup quarterfinals, with the Knicks fighting their way in as a Wild Card team.

Final predictions for NBA Cup East Group A:

  1. Orlando Magic (4-0)
  2. New York Knicks (3-1)
  3. Philadelphia 76ers (2-2)
  4. Charlotte Hornets (1-3)
  5. Brooklyn Nets (0-4)