The NBA In-Season Tournament is back for its second year under a different branding — the NBA Cup. The association is clearly taking pages out of international football leagues' playbook, and this makes sense to drum up even more anticipation as the NBA tries to incentive teams to engage in some highly-competitive battles early on in the regular season. The West Group B of the 2024-25 iteration of the competition should give us plenty of exciting matchups, with the reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers looking to defend their NBA Cup crown.

This year, however, the Lakers will be facing an uphill battle when it comes to their bid to make the quarterfinals. The reigning Western Conference one-seed Oklahoma City Thunder will be looking to stop the Lakers' repeat quest in its tracks, while the Phoenix Suns will be looking for retribution after it was the Lakers that sent them home in the quarterfinals of the NBA In-Season Tournament last year.

Rounding out the group will be the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz. The Spurs is West Group B's dark horse; the addition of Chris Paul gives them an all-time great playmaker to bring out an even better side of Victor Wembanyama, while the team's young core should only continue to grow. The Jazz, on the other hand, may not have the best roster, but they are well-coached under Will Hardy's watch and they can overcome talent deficits.

At the end of the day, the big question will be: do the Lakers have enough to hold off the teams that are coming for their head in the upcoming NBA Cup?

2024 NBA Cup West Group B Predictions

No one relishes opportunities to win trophies more than LeBron James. James certainly was a man on a mission early on in the 2023-24 season; a player who has, over the past few years, saved his best basketball for the playoffs, the Lakers star put his foot down and took the NBA In-Season Tournament very seriously, and in turn, they won the inaugural NBA Cup.

Meanwhile, the Thunder and Suns should have all the incentive in the world to dethrone the Lakers. OKC got Isaiah Hartenstein and shored up their biggest weakness — rebounding — which the Lakers exploited last year. Meanwhile, the Suns fell short by three in their NBA IST quarterfinals matchup against the Lakers, and they will not stand for another defeat this time around.

At the end of the day, the Lakers' hopes of defending their crown hinge on how seriously LeBron James and company will be taking this year's competition. James still gets the job done after all even at his advanced age, and Anthony Davis should be fresh early on in the season, which reduces the risk of him suffering any drop-off due to injuries.

But now that James and the Lakers have gotten that inaugural NBA Cup win out of the way, will they have the same early-season hunger to win big? James will be turning 40 years of age in December, and the clock is ticking on him and his bid for a fifth NBA championship. Thus, it is fair to wonder whether or not the Lakers may opt to play it more safe this time around — especially when there was a steep drop-off in their play following last year's NBA In-Season Tournament.

The Spurs may be flying under the radar way too much, but they certainly have the talent and coaching to shock the world. Paul's addition may be the most headline-grabbing development of their offseason, but Harrison Barnes also gives them a legitimate starting small forward — a task that Julian Champagnie, as admirably as he may have performed last season, isn't ready for. Wembanyama has been improving exponentially — how big of a leap will he be taking in Year 2? Devin Vassell should also feast now that Paul is his backcourt partner.

Last year, the Spurs proved that they can stun any team on any given night when they defeated the Denver Nuggets in a game that had seeding implications. Moreover, they also won the season series against the Suns last year, 3-1, while they were also mighty competitive against the Lakers last season, losing two out of three games by a combined eight points.

It's difficult to project how the Jazz would finish given how involved they are in trade talks. But with or without Lauri Markkanen, Utah is far and away the favorite to finish last in the group, and it's not particularly close.

The Thunder are a good bet to finish first in the group given how deep and well-rounded the team is at every position. They loaded up this offseason by bringing in Alex Caruso and Hartenstein. Any other outcome than a first-place finish will be a disappointment.

In the end, the Lakers should have the big-game experience to do some damage in single-game formats, so they should be on their way back to the quarterfinals as a Wild Card team over the Spurs, Suns, and Jazz.

Final predictions for NBA Cup West Group B:

  1. Oklahoma City Thunder (4-0)
  2. Los Angeles Lakers (3-1)
  3. San Antonio Spurs (2-2)
  4. Phoenix Suns (1-3)
  5. Utah Jazz (0-4)