ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Magic will be among the first teams to get started in the NBA Cup tournament, tipping off group play at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 against the Charlotte Hornets at the Kia Center, the NBA announced Tuesday.

The rest of their NBA Cup group play schedule is:

• Nov. 15 vs. Philadelphia 76ers, 7 p.m.
• Nov. 29 at Brooklyn Nets, 7:30 p.m.
• Dec. 3 at New York Knicks, 7:30 p.m.

Orlando's game against New York is scheduled for a national broadcast on TNT, a rarity for the Magic in recent seasons.

The Magic, who came a win shy of advancing to the knockout round in last year's tournament, have a tough draw in Group A this year.

Orlando finished last season 1-3 against Philadelphia 76ers. But the game against the 76ers should be a good early-season watch for fans and a test for the Magic, who added Denver Nuggets defensive standout and 3-pointer shooter Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and No. 18 overall draft pick Tristan da Silva out of Colorado to a team that notched 47 wins last season. 

In the offseason, Philadelphia added All-Star guard Paul George, former Heat forward Caleb Martin, veteran center Andre Drummond, veteran playoff guards Eric Gordon and Reggie Jackson and flashy rookie guard Jared McCain out of Duke to a roster that already included 2023 NBA MVP center Joel Embiid and re-signed All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey.

Although the Magic went 3-1 against the Knicks last season, they got scorched by the Knicks’ backcourt in their last meeting of the season on March 8, including 26 points from guard Jalen Brunson and 19 by Josh Hart. Recent addition OG Anunoby did not play in that game because of an injury. Since then, New York acquired former Brooklyn guard Mikal Bridges, who lit up the Magic in multiple meetings as a member of the Nets last season. 

Orlando’s NBA Cup opener against Charlotte might seem like a good starting opportunity, since the Magic went 3-1 in the series and the Hornets finished with only 21 wins last year. But the teams’ last meeting of the season, a 124-115 victory by Charlotte, likely kept Orlando from gaining homecourt advantage in the playoffs. Despite 32 points by the Magic’s Paolo Banchero and 22 by Franz Wagner, the Hornets got 32 points from rookie guard Brandon Miller, 18 from power forward Grant Williams and 23 points from small forward Miles Bridges, who they re-signed in the offseason. They also played without guard LaMelo Ball and center Mark Willams. Charlotte does not seem content to be in the lottery again either. They added French guard Tidjane Salaun with the No. 6 pick in the draft and former Mavericks swingman Josh Green, and Vasilije Micić had a strong run helping Serbia win a bronze medal in the Olympics. 

The Nets are rebuilding after finishing 32-50 last season, but they still have several players on their roster who have given the Magic some problems in the past. Brooklyn went 2-2 against Orlando last season, but they did have Mikal Bridges on the roster at the time.

If you were around last year, the NBA Cup is the new name for what last year was called the In-Season Tournament.

The NBA divided the 15 teams in each conference into three groups of five teams for group play. It put each team into a “pot” based on its win-loss record from the 2023-24 season, and one team from each pot was randomly selected into each of the three groups in that team’s conference.

Each team plays the other four teams in its group, with two games at home and two on the road, in the group-play round. The team with the best record in each of the six groups (three per conference) and two wild-card teams, which are the clubs that finished with the best remaining record in each conference, will advance to the single-elimination knockout round. Each contest in group play is part of the NBA’s 82-game season.

The knockout round starts with the quarterfinals, and those games will be played Dec. 10 and 11, with the four winners advancing to the semifinals on Dec. 14 in Las Vegas. The championship game will take place Dec. 17, also in Las Vegas. The teams that advance to the knockout round will compete for a prize pool and the NBA Cup trophy.

The 22 teams that do not qualify for the knockout rounds will each play two regular-season games. The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each play a regular-season game on either Dec. 15 or Dec. 16 against the opponent in their same conference.

Tickets for Orlando’s home games in the NBA Cup are on sale now. Orlando Magic ticket plans and suites are also on sale now. Single-game tickets for the rest of the 2024-25 NBA season, which will be announced later this week, will go on sale on Friday, Aug. 16 at 1 p.m. For exclusive pre-sale access and more information, go online to OrlandoMagic.com or call 407-89-MAGIC.