2024 NBA Cup Final: Bucks vs. Thunder, schedule, how to watch, odds, predictions

LAS VEGAS — Bright lights. National spotlight. Playing for a trophy — and half a million dollars each for the players.

The NBA Cup has it all.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks have been on the biggest of NBA stages before and have the ring to prove it. The Oklahoma City Thunder have the top seed in the West and their own MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but they are still the younger team looking to prove it belongs. For the Thunder, this setting gives it some playoff practice.

“This is a great challenge. It’s an elevated situation with a lot of distractions and a lot of noise around it against a very good team,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.

Here’s everything you need to know about the NBA Cup.

NBA Cup Finals Schedule

Championship in Las Vegas (Tuesday, Dec. 17)

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Milwaukee Bucks, 8:30 PM ET (ABC)

NBA Cup Finals Analysis

Watch for the pace of this game, it will tell us everything. The Thunder are an aggressive ball-pressure defensive team that averages a league-best 12.2 steals a game, they also lead the league in deflections, and once they force a turnover the young legs of the Thunder get out and run. The Thunder are fourth in the league in percentage of possessions that start in transition, while the Bucks are 24th. If this game becomes a track meet, Oklahoma City will run away with it.

Expect a low-scoring, more defensive matchup: The Thunder have the best defense in the NBA, and while the Bucks started the season slowly, they have a top-10 defense over their last 15 games. Whichever team can solve the puzzle of how to score on the other will win — that’s something Oklahoma City did to Houston in the semifinals, scoring 70 in the second half. The Bucks solve a lot of problems because they can fall back on the Giannis Antetokounmpo/Damian Lillard pick-and-roll, which is nearly impossible to defend.