A lot (of money) on the line for Heat, Magic in NBA Cup quarterfinal game. What’s at stake?
Mickey Guyton sings the United States national anthem before the championship game of the Emirates NBA Cup between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Oklahoma City Thunder at T-Mobile Arena on December 17, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Tuesday’s matchup against the Magic in Orlando will mark the Miami Heat’s 25th game of the regular season. But it’s not just any normal December regular-season game.
This one comes with real stakes, and not just because the Heat is looking to get back on track after dropping three straight games and four of the last five games. Tuesday’s matchup in Orlando is an NBA Cup elimination game in the quarterfinal round of the league’s in-season tournament.
So, what’s on the line?
First, the winner advances to the semifinals of the NBA Cup in Las Vegas. But the real reward is the fact that every player on a standard contract on the winning team of Tuesdays’ matchup is guaranteed at least an additional $53,094.
That’s because every player on a standard deal on the eight NBA teams that advanced to the quarterfinals of the in-season tournament already earned $53,093 for making the knockout rounds. But that monetary reward increases to $106,187 for each standard contract player on the four teams that make it to Saturday’s semifinals in Las Vegas, $212,373 for each standard contract player on the two teams that make it to the Dec. 16 championship game in Las Vegas, and $530,933 for the standard contract players on the NBA Cup champion.
“How can you not?,” Heat guard Dru Smith said when asked if the money on the line will be on his mind ahead of Tuesday’s quarterfinal game against the Magic at Kia Center (6 p.m., Prime Video). “I think that’s kind of why they did it, for us to just buy into it a little bit more.
“But also I think anytime you have a chance early in the season to really go and compete for something, even though it’s just a one-game series, basically, win or go home. Just to really have a chance to get a playoff feel this early, with the team, we were looking forward to that, coming into the season. I think it’s just something that will be really beneficial.”
For players like Smith, who is among the lowest paid players on the Heat’s roster, the money on the line is especially meaningful.
Smith is the third-lowest paid player on the Heat’s standard roster with a $2.4 million salary this season. Keshad Johnson and Pelle Larsson are the lowest paid players on the Heat’s standard roster with salaries of $2 million this season.
The $530,933 reward for players on the NBA Cup champion sounds like a lot more to those players than it does to the Heat’s highest paid player Bam Adebayo, who’s on a salary of $37.1 million this season.
“My goodness,” Johnson said when told about the money at stake this week.
Johnson has some perspective on just how much money is on the line after spending part of last season on a two-way contract. The full season salary for a player on a two-way deal this season is $636,435, which is only about $100,000 more than he would get if the Heat wins the NBA Cup.
“That’s a lot,” Johnson, 24, continued. “That’s game-changing for young guys like me, Jahmir [Young] and Myron [Gardner]. And so like, it means a lot. It means a lot. And I’m pretty sure the rest of the guys know how much it means, whether you’re a max-contract player or a minimum-contract player. So we all try to fight for it together. But, yeah, that would be lovely to cash that one in.”
For the Heat’s current two-way contract players (Gardner, Vlad Goldin and Young), they receive half of whatever in-season tournament prize money that each standard contract player on the team ends with. That means two-way contract players could end up with a reward of $265,466 if they’re on the team that wins the NBA Cup, which is about 40% of their season salary on such a deal.
“Of course it would be beneficial, especially with somebody like me on a two-way,” Young said before downplaying the stakes. “But we’re going to play the same way, treat it like a regular game and really just play together. But, of course, it is beneficial.”
Winning the in-season tournament for the three players on two-way deals is one of the things that the rest of the Heat’s roster can rally around.
“I’ve obviously been in that position,” said Smith, who was just on a two-way contract with the Heat last season. “I think it would be great for them. It’s half of the two-way salary. So if you can do that and win that for those guys, I think that’s something that we can kind of rally around, as well. That’s something also we can do as a team that can also benefit those guys.”
The Kaseya Center for a Miami Heat in-season tournament NBA Cup game on November 26, 2025. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
The Heat, which qualified for the quarterfinals as the Eastern Conference’s wild card, will play in its first ever NBA Cup knockout game on Tuesday after failing to make it past the group stage of the league’s first two in-season tournaments.
A win over the Magic on Tuesday in Orlando would punch the Heat’s ticket to Las Vegas to face the winner of the New York Knicks-Toronto Raptors quarterfinal matchup in a semifinal game at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The Knicks and the Raptors face off on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. in Toronto.
Every NBA Cup game counts in the regular-season standings except for the championship game. For the four teams that win in the quarterfinals, the missing game in their 82-game regular-season schedule will come in the semifinals, and the two teams that advance to the championship game will play an extra game (an 83rd game).
The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each play a regular-season game on Thursday, Friday, Sunday or Dec. 15 to fill the missing game in their 82-game schedules.
A loss to the Magic would end the Heat’s in-season tournament’s run, and a regular-season non-NBA Cup game against either the Knicks or Raptors would then be added to its schedule.
If the Raptors defeat the Knicks, the Heat would hit the road to take on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Sunday at 7 p.m. in a non-NBA Cup game.
If the Knicks defeat the Raptors, the Heat would host the Raptors at Kaseya Center on Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in a non-NBA Cup game.
Whether the Heat defeats the Magic and makes it to Las Vegas or falls to the Magic and faces the Knicks in New York or hosts the Raptors in Miami in the coming days, the Heat continues the rest of its schedule on Dec. 18 against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center to begin a three-game trip. That trip also includes matchups against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Dec. 19 and the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 21.
The Western Conference NBA Cup quarterfinal matchups are between the Phoenix Suns and Oklahoma City in Oklahoma City, and between the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles. Both of the West’s quarterfinal games will be played on Wednesday.
The East champion and the West champion will face off in the final of the in-season tournament on Dec. 16 at 8:30 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.
“I feel like every year that they do it, it’s going to increase and people might take it more and more serious,” Larsson said of the intensity of the NBA Cup games. “I feel like the first year, maybe it wasn’t like a big deal. And it’s just become bigger.”
The money on the line definitely helps.
“I think $500,000 is $500,000 for anyone,” Larsson added. “I imagine if I made a lot more money, it would still be good motivation for me to play.”
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Anthony Chiang
Miami Herald
Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.
