Boston is competing with four Eastern Conference rivals on the road to the NBA Cup in Vegas.
The groups for the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup were announced today and the Celtics were placed in Group East B alongside the Brooklyn Nets, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, and Philadelphia 76ers.
The #EmiratesNBACup 2025 Group Draw results!
Starting October 31, all 30 teams will compete for the NBA Cup with 8 teams advancing out of groups into the knockout rounds, with the semifinals and championship held in Las Vegas, December 13 and 16! pic.twitter.com/VJur4Hv0lL
— NBA (@NBA) July 9, 2025
Boston has not found much success when it comes to competing for the NBA Cup in the past couple of years. In the inaugural 2023 In-Season Tournament, the Celtics went 3-1 in the group stages, winning Group C with their only loss coming against the Magic and their wins against the Nets, Raptors, and Bulls.
Who could forget the infamous final game against the Bulls where the Celtics dominated them by a score of 124-97 due to the fact they needed to win by 23+ points to win the point differential battle. Joe Mazzulla intentionally fouled Andre Drummond even though they already had a big lead in the game and it caused a bit of friction between at the time Bulls coach Billy Donovan.
After advancing to the knockout stage as the 3rd seed, the Celtics would face off against the 2nd seed Indiana Pacers where they would fall 122-112 in Indiana. This was first introduction to the Pacers on a national stage and they would ride the momentum all the way to the Finals of the Tournament but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the championship game.
The newly named Emirates NBA Cup in 2024 would not change the Celtics luck in this tournament after not qualifying for the Knockout Round after losing to the eventual Group C winners, Atlanta Hawks and missing out on the Wild Card. Boston beat the Bulls, Cavs, and Wizards but didn’t win the group due to a tie breaker with the Hawks.
That meant they needed the Bucks to beat the Pistons by 6+ points which they did AND the Magic to beat the Knicks OR the Knicks beat the Magic by 37+ points to sneak into the Wild Card spot. Sadly New York won 121-106 which meant the Celtics were officially knocked out of the NBA Cup. The Milwaukee Bucks would end up winning the NBA Cup as they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Championship Game.
Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
The NBA Cup starts on October 31st and the Celtics will host Brooklyn and Detroit with road games at Orlando and Philadelphia.