NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Lakers’ defense of the NBA Cup title will begin on Nov. 15 in San Antonio against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, and Klay Thompson will be back at Golden State — as a visitor with Dallas — on Nov. 12.
The NBA released the schedule of the group play games on Tuesday, with those contests getting played on a series of Tuesdays and Fridays starting Nov. 12 and ending Dec. 3. Each team was assigned to a five-team group and plays the other four clubs in that group once.
LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers went 7-0 in the tournament last season — when it was simply called the In-Season Tournament — and beat the Indiana Pacers in the final in Las Vegas. The semifinals and finals return to Las Vegas this year, with the semis on Dec. 14 and the title game on Dec. 17.
The NBA Cup will provide some obvious storylines. Among them: Thompson going back to Golden State, where he helped the Warriors win four titles, after joining the Mavericks this summer. And then the Lakers open defense of the Cup title, it’ll be a game where James and Davis face Wembanyama again after helping the U.S. beat France in the gold-medal game at the Paris Olympics.