NEW YORK — Defending NBA Cup champion Milwaukee will play its group stage games in this season’s tournament against New York, Chicago, Charlotte and Miami, the league announced Wednesday.

The league unveiled the groups for the third year of the tournament, which tips off on Oct. 31. Group play continues through Nov. 28.

Quarterfinals will be Dec. 9-10, with the tournament semifinals Dec. 13 in Las Vegas. The championship game — which will not count toward the season record and statistics for either of the clubs involved — will be Dec. 16 in Las Vegas.

In group play, teams will all have two road and two home games. Teams that do not reach the quarterfinals or semifinals will have added to their schedules matchups against two other teams that also did not qualify for the Cup playoffs, pushing the season to the full 82 games.

Quarterfinal and semifinal games will count toward the regular season for the teams involved in those contests.

Full schedules will be announced in August, coinciding with the rest of the NBA’s schedule rollout for the 2025-26 season.

The groups:

East Group A – Cleveland, Indiana, Atlanta, Toronto, Washington.

East Group B – Boston, Detroit, Orlando, Brooklyn, Philadelphia.

East Group C – Milwaukee, New York, Chicago, Miami, Charlotte.

West Group A – Oklahoma City, Minnesota, Sacramento, Phoenix, Utah.

West Group B – L.A. Lakers, LA Clippers, Memphis, Dallas, New Orleans.

West Group C – Houston, Denver, Golden State, Portland, San Antonio.