East Group B opens Oct. 30 with the kind of five-team field that leaves no soft landing in the NBA Cup schedule. The defending NBA and Cup champion New York Knicks are here. So are a Cleveland Cavaliers club coming off an Eastern Conference finals trip, a Philadelphia 76ers roster rebuilt around Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and LeBron James, a Miami Heat team newly fronted by Giannis Antetokounmpo, and an Indiana Pacers squad getting Tyrese Haliburton back from an Achilles injury.
Only one team is assured of reaching the 2026 NBA Cup Quarterfinals from the group, and the recent history is heavy. Cleveland, Miami, Indiana and New York have combined for eight of the past 12 Eastern Conference titles, beginning with the Cavs’ four straight trips from 2015 through 2018. Miami reached the Finals in 2020 and 2023, Indiana won the East in 2025, and New York followed in 2026.
The group also owns every NBA Cup MVP since the event began. LeBron James earned the inaugural award in 2023 while with the Lakers, Antetokounmpo took it in 2024 as a Buck, and Jalen Brunson was the 2025 winner for New York. Three of these clubs made the 2026 playoffs and each reached at least the conference semifinals. The Knicks swept Philadelphia in the East semifinals, then swept Cleveland in the conference finals before finishing their 53-year wait for another championship.
New York and Miami carry recent Cup experience, too. The Heat made last season’s quarterfinal round, while the Knicks went all the way to the trophy. That pedigree is useful, but the group may turn on the offseason movement as much as anything that happened last year.
New faces change the group math
Cleveland posted the best 2025-26 record within this five-team cluster, going 11-4. The Knicks were the only other club above .500 against the group at 9-6. Miami finished 7-7, Philadelphia went 7-8, and Indiana was 3-12. Cleveland handled Philadelphia and Indiana without a loss, 4-0 against each, but went 1-2 against New York. The Knicks held season-series advantages over Cleveland and Indiana, while splitting four-game sets with both Miami and Philadelphia.
Those records are a starting point, not a forecast. Miami landed Antetokounmpo in its blockbuster deal with Milwaukee, giving Erik Spoelstra a frontcourt pairing with Bam Adebayo that can switch, protect the rim and initiate offense. Antetokounmpo arrives as a two-time MVP intent on proving he can still drive a championship-level team.
Philadelphia made the loudest collection of moves, acquiring Brown from Boston and signing James in free agency. Embiid remains the franchise’s central force, Maxey is coming off an All-NBA campaign, and VJ Edgecombe enters his second season after a strong rookie year. The Sixers’ ceiling is obvious; their familiar question is whether the core can stay available. They enter Cup play at 3-1 and may have a better chance to carry a healthy roster through the late-November finish than they will later in the grind toward the playoffs.
The Cavs stayed with their established top four after reaching the deepest playoff round of their post-LeBron era, then added Denver wing Peyton Watson to deepen their perimeter defense. A full camp and full regular season together should matter for a team that was swept out by New York but did not break apart afterward.
Indiana, meanwhile, brings back the backbone of its 2025 Finals group after a dramatic drop in 2025-26. Haliburton will be roughly 16 months removed from his torn Achilles when the season begins. The Pacers had already added center Ivica Zubac at last season’s trade deadline and used the summer to sign Kelly Oubre Jr. and Larry Nance Jr. for more veteran depth.
The Knicks have their own pressure now: repeat rather than chase. Their title run featured a 13-game winning streak, including the four victories over Cleveland in the East finals. It has been nine years since the NBA had a repeat champion, but New York’s veteran rotation enters the season with the league’s most recent proof that it can close series.
Six dates that will shape the race
The group schedule starts with Knicks at 76ers on Friday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video. New York swept Philadelphia in last season’s East semifinal, but the Sixers won this season’s opener and spoiled the Knicks’ banner night at Madison Square Garden. That makes the first Cup night an immediate temperature check for both sides.
Philadelphia then visits Cleveland on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video. It is James’ return to the city where he spent 11 seasons and delivered the 2016 championship. He considered a Cleveland reunion in the offseason before choosing the Sixers. In 27 games against the Cavs, James has a 21-6 record with averages of 26.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 6.9 assists.
Indiana hosts New York on Friday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. ET on Prime Video in a meeting of the past two East champions. It also revisits the 2025 Eastern Conference finals, the series that announced Haliburton as a bigger-stage star and confirmed the Pacers as a genuine contender.
The final stretch on Nov. 25 puts Miami in Philadelphia at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN before Cleveland heads to New York for a 7:30 p.m. ET game on League Pass. Antetokounmpo, Brown and James have changed uniforms and shifted the conference’s balance; alongside Embiid, that foursome owns seven regular-season MVP awards and six Finals MVPs. Later that night, the Cavs get their first Cup shot at the club that ended their 2026 postseason in four games.
Group Play closes Friday, Nov. 27, with Heat at Knicks at 7 p.m. ET on Prime Video. It is another installment of a long-running New York-Miami fight, now with Antetokounmpo in Heat colors. In 21 career games at Madison Square Garden, he has gone 12-9 while averaging 22.3 points, 11.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists, though he will enter the game carrying a four-game losing streak in the building.
There is a reasonable path for every club here. Cleveland has last season’s best head-to-head body of work. New York has the championship habits and the league’s toughest recent résumé. Miami now has a superstar pivot. Indiana has Haliburton back. Still, Philadelphia looks built for this particular short sprint. If the Sixers can keep Embiid, James, Brown and Maxey on the floor through November, their 3-1 start gives them momentum and their talent gives them the group’s highest immediate ceiling.
