Over four dates between Nov. 7 and Nov. 26, the Rockets will play the Spurs, Trail Blazers, Nuggets, and Warriors in Emirates NBA Cup 2025 games.
This fall, the NBA is set to play the third annual edition of the in-season tournament that it introduced in 2023. Each season, six five-team groups — three groups per conference — play a round-robin format. The winners of each group, along with one wild-card from each conference, advance to the eight-team knockout round.
Each group features teams from the top, middle, and bottom of its respective conference, as determined by standings from last season.
Now known as the Emirates NBA Cup 2025, this season’s event tips off on Oct. 31 in team markets and culminates with the semifinals (Dec. 13) and championship (Dec. 16) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Nearly all Cup games also count toward the regular-season standings, with the championship the lone exception.
On Wednesday, schedules for all group-stage games were released.
For the Houston Rockets, who are in Western Conference Group C along with the Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, and Portland Trail Blazers, the schedule is as follows (times are Central):
Friday, Nov. 7: Rockets at Spurs, 6:30 p.m. tipoff (Prime Video)Friday, Nov. 14: Trail Blazers at Rockets, 7:00 p.m. tipoff (local TV broadcasts only)Friday, Nov. 21: Nuggets at Rockets, 8:30 p.m. tipoff (Prime Video)Wednesday, Nov. 26: Rockets at Warriors, 9:00 p.m. tipoff (ESPN)
On designated “Cup Nights” between Oct. 31 and Nov. 28, each NBA team will play four group-play games, Teams will play one game versus each opponent in their group, with two games at home and two on the road.
Four teams per conference will advance to the knockout rounds: each first-place team with the best standing in group games and two “wild cards” (a second-place team from each conference with the best group-stage record). The knockout rounds consist of single-elimination games in the quarterfinals, which will be played in NBA team markets on Tuesday, Dec. 9, and Wednesday, Dec. 10. The winners advance to Las Vegas.
In sequential order, tiebreakers include head-to-head record in group play, point differential in group play, total points scored in group play, and overall regular-season record. Overtime scoring does not count toward the point differential and total points tiebreakers.
To ensure that all NBA teams play 82 regular-season games, teams who don’t advance to the knockout rounds will have two games added to their 2025-26 schedule versus other teams from the same conference who also did not advance. The two teams who lose in a quarterfinal will play each other in a regular-season contest a few days later, for the same reason.
With the exception of those two TBD games per team, the NBA’s complete schedule for its 2025-26 regular season will be released on Thursday, August 14. However, select nationally televised games for the Rockets and other teams have already been announced.
In the 2024 edition of the NBA Cup, the Rockets advanced to the semifinal in Las Vegas before bowing out to the eventual NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Houston defeated Golden State, now its 2025 group rival, in a knockout-round quarterfinal match last December.