The defending champion Lakers will begin play in the second annual Emirates NBA Cup Nov. 15 at San Antonio and face the Utah Jazz Nov. 19 in their first tournament home game at Crypto.com Arena.
The Lakers’ other group play games will be Nov. 26 at Phoenix and be televised by TNT and Nov. 29 against Oklahoma City at Crypto.com Arena, the NBA announced Tuesday.
Group play games will take place on Tuesdays and Fridays from Nov. 12 to Dec. 3. On these “Cup Nights,” the only NBA games scheduled will be group play games.
All 30 teams were randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on win-loss records from the 2023-24 regular season. Each team will play four designated group play games — one game against each opponent in its group, with two games at home and two games on the road.
The six group winners and two wild cards — the team from each conference with the best record in group play games that finished second in its group will advance to the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinals will be played Dec. 10 and Dec. 11 on the home court of the higher seeded team. The Lakers are seeded third in West Group B.
The semifinals will be played Dec. 14 and finals Dec. 17, all in Las Vegas.
The Lakers won what was then known as the NBA In-Season Tournament in 2023 with a 7-0 record.
The remainder of the NBA schedule will be released Thursday.