NBA and Prime Video launch ‘Emirates NBA Cup University,’ with eight players as students and Dirk, Nash, Griffin and Haslem as professors

The NBA Cup is going back to school. Nine days before the in-season tournament tips off, the NBA and Prime Video released “Emirates NBA Cup University,” a new marketing campaign that turns the road to the Cup championship into a fake college semester, with eight current players as students and the Prime studio crew running the classrooms.

The league announced the campaign on Wednesday, Oct. 21. It is the main promotional push for the fourth NBA Cup, which starts on Friday, Oct. 30 and ends with the championship game on Friday, Dec. 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, a famous college gym on Butler University’s campus.

Prime Video posted the first spot on its sports channel:

Who is in the campaign

The idea is simple. Every team is “enrolled,” and the players prepare for the Cup the way students prepare for finals, with classrooms, dorm rooms and campus traditions as the backdrop. In the league’s words, the college experience is used as a metaphor for the preparation and competitive drive the tournament demands.

Role	Who
Students (players)	Kon Knueppel (Hornets), Jalen Johnson (Hawks), Evan Mobley (Cavaliers), Austin Reaves (Lakers), Stephon Castle (Spurs), Chet Holmgren (Thunder), Damian Lillard (Trail Blazers), Jaren Jackson Jr. (Jazz)
Professors	Prime studio analysts Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Blake Griffin and Udonis Haslem
Dean	Prime studio host Taylor Rooks
Made by	The NBA and Prime Video with the agency DLP; directed by Max Gutierrez

The cast is spread across both conferences and leans young: Knueppel, Castle and Holmgren are all 24 or younger. Two of the eight are also in new places this season: Lillard is back with the Trail Blazers, and Jackson starts his first year in Utah after eight seasons in Memphis.

There is a small bit of timing luck, too. Castle and Holmgren were on opposite sides of the season’s first big matchup, when the Thunder beat the Spurs 116-104 in San Antonio on opening night. In the campaign they are classmates.

Why the league is selling the Cup this way

This is the second Cup on Prime Video, which carries every Group Play game on “Cup Nights” and streams all of the Knockout Rounds, including the championship. A college theme also fits where the tournament ends. Hinkle is a historic college fieldhouse, and holding the final there already gives the Cup a college-basketball feel. The campaign builds on that by turning the whole tournament into a semester that ends in Indianapolis.

It also connects to how Prime has built its NBA coverage. The analysts playing the professors are the same studio crew fans will see on Prime’s game nights. We covered the wider plan in our NBA on Prime season two preview.

The Cup calendar

Stage	Dates	Details
Group Play	Fridays, Oct. 30 to Nov. 27	All 30 teams were drawn into groups of five within their conference, based on 2025-26 records. Each team plays four Group Play games on Cup Nights on Prime.
Opening Cup Night	Friday, Oct. 30	Knicks at 76ers, 7:30 p.m. ET (1:30 a.m. Saturday in Cairo), then Lakers at Warriors, 10 p.m. ET (4 a.m. Saturday in Cairo)
Knockout Rounds	December	Eight teams advance. The quarterfinals and semifinals are played in NBA team markets.
Championship	Friday, Dec. 11	Winner-take-all final at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, streaming only on Prime Video

For every group and every game, see our NBA Cup 2026 groups and full Group Play schedule. Our guide to the first Cup Night on Oct. 30 lists all 10 games, along with the arena giveaways. The new tournament floors are in our look at all 30 NBA Cup courts. More league-wide stories are in Around the league.