2024-25 NBA In-Season Tournament (NBA Cup)

Result

Box score

Bench (10+ points): Gary Trent Jr. (13)

Tournament MVP

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Final context

The tournament's second edition, rebranded the NBA Cup after its inaugural "In-Season Tournament" branding, crowned the Milwaukee Bucks champions on December 17, 2024, with a 97-81 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder at T-Mobile Arena. Both finalists arrived as top seeds after 4-0 group-stage runs. Milwaukee, the East's No. 1 seed, beat the Orlando Magic 114-109 in the December 10 quarterfinal and the Atlanta Hawks 110-102 in a December 14 semifinal. Oklahoma City, the West's top seed, beat the Dallas Mavericks 118-104 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 39) in its quarterfinal and the Houston Rockets 111-96 in the semifinal, part of a run that had the Thunder positioned as one of the league's best teams by record that season. The final was close for a half and then turned decisively in Milwaukee's favor. Oklahoma City raced to an early lead, going up 16-9 in the first quarter behind Isaiah Hartenstein, before the Bucks answered with an 8-0 run; the Thunder still led 28-27 after one quarter, and Milwaukee held only a 51-50 edge at halftime, with Damian Lillard hitting a string of step-back three-pointers to keep the Bucks in range. The third quarter belonged entirely to Milwaukee: the Bucks opened it with back-to-back threes to start a 13-3 run, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 12 points in the period alone, and Milwaukee held Oklahoma City to just 14 third-quarter points while building a 77-64 lead. The Bucks' defense and hot shooting carried into the fourth, where three-pointers from Gary Trent Jr. and Brook Lopez stretched the lead to 20 points; a Bobby Portis flagrant foul briefly interrupted play late but did not change the outcome. Antetokounmpo recorded a triple-double — 26 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists, three blocks, and two steals — and was a unanimous choice for tournament MVP, becoming just the second player to win the award after LeBron James the year before. Lillard added 23 points on 5-of-10 three-point shooting, and Trent and Lopez combined for 26 points on 6-of-12 from deep as Milwaukee shot 17-of-40 (42.5%) from three as a team. Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 21 points but shot just 8-of-24, and the Thunder as a whole shot only 33.7% from the field and a season-low 5-of-32 (15.6%) from three; Jalen Williams added 18 points, three blocks and two steals, and Hartenstein had 16 points and 12 rebounds in the loss. Milwaukee won the title despite missing Khris Middleton to illness, capping a dramatic in-season turnaround for a Bucks team that had opened the year 1-6 and sat 4-9 before catching fire. The championship produced a notable footnote off the court: Bucks forward Taurean Prince, who had won the inaugural tournament with the Lakers in 2023 before signing with Milwaukee, became the first player to win the Cup with two different franchises, while Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham — fired as the Lakers' head coach in May 2024 after their 2023 title before rejoining Milwaukee's staff as top assistant that June — collected his second consecutive championship. Milwaukee raised a banner at Fiserv Forum on December 19, and the game drew 2.99 million viewers on ABC, the season's second-most-watched broadcast to that point. Each Bucks player earned $514,971 in prize money; Thunder players received $205,988 apiece.

Sources

• Wikipedia — 2024 NBA Cup
• ESPN — Giannis Antetokounmpo carries red-hot Bucks to NBA Cup title
• NBC News — Milwaukee Bucks defeat Oklahoma City Thunder 97-81 to win the 2024 NBA Cup
• BrewHoop — NBA Cup Finals Rapid Recap: Bucks 97, Thunder 81
• Bleacher Report — Giannis, Dame Championed By Fans as Bucks Win 2024 NBA Cup Title vs. SGA/Thunder
• ESPN — Thunder 118-104 Mavericks (Dec 10, 2024) quarterfinal
• CBS Sports — 2024 NBA Cup bracket, results, scores
• Fox Sports — Ex-Lakers head coach Darvin Ham rejoining Bucks as top assistant