The Lakers start the in-season tournament on Oct. 30 on the road against the Golden State Warriors at 7 p.m. PDT on Prime Video, the NBA announced Wednesday during another stage of the schedule release that will wrap up Thursday. The NBA Cup opener is a second matchup in the first weeks of the season between the Lakers and the Warriors, who begin their regular-season schedules on Oct. 21 at Crypto.com Arena.
The Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs are also in the Lakers’ five-team Group C. The Lakers have Cup home games against the Trail Blazers (Nov. 6, 7 p.m.) and Kings (Nov. 20, 7 p.m.) and play their last group-stage Cup game at San Antonio at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 27.
With 30 teams split into six groups for the NBA Cup, teams play a round-robin group stage before the top team in each group and the best second-place team in each conference advance to the eight-team quarterfinal stage.
The quarterfinals (Dec. 4 and Dec. 5) and semifinals (Dec. 8 and/or Dec. 9) will be hosted in NBA team markets, a departure from the previous formats that placed only the quarterfinals in team arenas before playing the semifinal and championship in Las Vegas. The championship game, scheduled for Dec. 11, will be played at Butler University’s Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The in-season tournament, now in its third season, was launched to increase the stakes during a long NBA regular season. It incentivized competition in part by dangling more than $500,000 in prize money for each player on the winning team.
The NBA Cup just produced its first NBA champion, with the New York Knicks becoming the first team to win the regular-season tournament and the NBA title in the same season.
Tries: Eckersley 2, French, Marshall 2, Hodkinson, Eseh, Field Goals: Smith 8
Toulouse (18) 18
Tries: Ulberg, Tropis, Rouge Goals: Rouge 3
Try machine Zach Eckersley and Liam Marshall both scored twice as Wigan Warriors overpowered Toulouse Olympique 48-18 to make it 11 wins in a row to climb to second in Super League.
Eckersley took his try tally for the season to 33 and Wigan have won 10 successive Super League games for the first time since 2023 when they were Grand Final winners.
Bevan French was magnificent and he scored the Warriors’ second try, while Noah Hodkinson, Sam Eseh and Jai Field also went over.
Toulouse had their moments and fought back to level 18-18 just before half-time as they scored through Paul Ulberg, Romeo Tropis and Cesar Rouge.
Leigh head coach Adrian Lam told BBC Radio Merseyside:
“There were three tries from poor skill and a fourth one where we fell asleep at the wheel. It’s not a whole team issue, it’s just three or four moments that really hurt us.
“It was individuals that didn’t nail skill at really big moments for us.
“I’m not going to get angry at the team. For 40 minutes I thought we were unbelievably good. I think we’re very close to being very, very good and I’ll hold onto that fact.
“I thought we dominated in most areas in that first half; we just have to put an 80-minute performance together.”
Wigan head coach Matt Peet told BBC Radio Merseyside:
“I’m very proud. It is a tough place to come against a team that’s flying. We had to overcome a bit of adversity. Leigh were excellent in the first half and we had to get a lot right to get the result.
“It had a play-off feel about it from minute one against a quality team who throw a lot at you.
“It will stand us in good stead. There are things that we can improve but the character of the team is very strong and defensively we looked very strong as well.”
On Jai Field’s try:
“It was a game-changing moment. He’s got that capability and instinct and obviously his pace. He’s a pleasure to watch.”
Take all the time you want, LeBron. It’s your life.
Yes, it’s annoying to have to hear about it every day, but it’s your decision when to tell us where you’re going to play your 24th season of pro ball.
So, go ahead, keep NBA schedule-makers on pins and needles. Savor having workers at my local Trader Joe’s discussing your future on a Monday in the middle of July. Enjoy your twilight limelight.
But don’t tell us, on podcasts and in public appearances, that the factors you’re prioritizing are A) whether a team is built to win now; B) the proximity to your home in L.A.; and C) not money, but overall happiness — and then signal it might be the Golden State Warriors.
The Cleveland Cavaliers? They check all the boxes. That’s “home” for real. And the Cavs are ready to win with a veteran difference-maker such as LeBron. Absolutely, it would be a happily-ever-after conclusion to the LeBron epic.
The Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers? Nowhere close to home, but they check a box too: They’re both set up to win — and in the Eastern Conference, where they won’t have to go through the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder to reach an NBA Finals.
The Warriors, though?
They check no boxes. Not a one. Not in 2026.
That would be a … choice. But let no one act like this would be LeBron leaving the Lakers for a more competitive situation. It wouldn’t be LeBron landing in a more desirable locale.
Line up Cleveland, Philadelphia, Miami and Golden State and it’s like seeing three diamonds and a square on “Sesame Street.” A 3-year-old could tell that one of those is not like the others. But that’s the third-most likely destination, as of Tuesday morning, according to the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Sure, once upon a time, a starting lineup of Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, LeBron James, Draymond Green and Kristaps Porzingis would have beaten almost anybody. But even those guys — besides 30-year-old Porzingis, they’re all in their late-30s or early 40s, with a ton of NBA mileage — aren’t beating Father Time.
Remember when the Lakers put together a roster awash in washed-up stars in 2021, and how disastrous that was? Turns out pairing Carmelo Anthony, Trevor Ariza, Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, DeAndre Jordan and, yes, Russell Westbrook was a recipe for a truly awful 33-win team.
And the Warriors? They couldn’t get out of the play-in tournament last season, when Curry played only 43 games and Butler played only 38. Also, remember, for the first time in LeBron’s career, the now 41-year-old wasn’t available to start the season. He missed the first 14 games with sciatica.
Maybe Golden State could conjure up some magic in a playoff series — but over an 82-game regular-season marathon? No way, LBJ.
Former Lakers star LeBron James (23) and former Warriors forward Draymond Green, who opted out of his contract this summer, could team up with Golden State. Or maybe not.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
It could be that winning isn’t everything for LeBron. The man’s legacy is locked. He’s won four NBA titles, three Olympic gold medals, 1,229 NBA games and counting. And he’s winning this summer’s engagement game too.
Perhaps it’s come to a point that he just wants to play with his friends, and after earning $53 million with the Lakers last season, he’s willing to sign a deal with Golden State for between $3.9 and $6 million — which is what the Warriors could pay him, according to ESPN cap expert Bobby Marks — to do that.
That’s lovely, but it doesn’t change the fact that LeBron wouldn’t be happy losing.
And losing when he’s the addition to Steph’s team — and make no mistake, the Warriors are Steph’s team — really wouldn’t be fun.
The superstar wars that will be fought between both players’ infamously, uh, passionate fandoms wouldn’t be fun.
The daily drumbeat of criticism from talking heads who tuned into all of those televised games — not fun.
But the commute! It’s only 380 miles or so from Brentwood to Chase Center, and that’s much closer than Cleveland or Philly or Miami.
That makes sense — if you forget there are two NBA teams in the very city where LeBron’s family lives. And on paper, they’re both better than the Warriors. And his son plays for one of them!
But one of those teams is the Clippers and the other has moved on from LeBron.
Oh, the irony.
The Lakers, if they weren’t the ex-team, would check all the boxes. They’re going to be competitive. They’re a group LeBron enjoyed playing with. They are home. And LeBron would check a pretty big box for them too, if money really isn’t a deciding factor.
But the Lakers have replaced LeBron with Walker Kessler, the 24-year-old defensive center who is the perfect complement to Luka Doncic. They’ve put in place the pillars for their future, though they do still happen to have a LeBron-sized hole at forward that isn’t going to be filled by LeBron.
And that’s OK. The next chapter will start eventually, and likely it will be set in a location where LeBron can compete and have a good time, and that he and his family can feel good about.
Tries: Cartwright, Kerr, Eckersley, McDermott, Daniel Goals: Keighran 5
Warrington (12) 18
Tries: Hopoate, Irwin, Ashton Goals: Irwin 3
Wigan Warriors’ young stand-ins held off the challenge of Warrington Wolves to move to within two points of Super League leaders Leeds Rhinos.
Josh Cartwright, Taylor Kerr, Kian McDermott and Austin Daniel all repaid the faith of head coach Matt Peet by scoring their first senior tries after filling gaps left by the Warriors’ injury troubles.
Wigan lost star full-back Jai Field on the morning of the match with a back injury and they were soon 12-0 down as Warrington’s Albert Hopoate and their own 18-year-old prodigy Ewan Irwin both scored tries.
The game see-sawed and was still level with half an hour to go until McDermott and Daniel showed the quality of the young players coming through the Wigan academy with vital finishes.
The four-time NBA champion has spent his entire playing career with the Golden State Warriors and is under contract through the end of next season.
He has been playing without a shoe deal, however, since parting ways with Under Armour in November.
That won’t be the case when Curry starts his 18th NBA season in the fall. The man who holds the NBA record for most career three-pointers announced on Monday that his Curry Brand is teaming with Chinese sportswear and athletic equipment company Li-Ning for a partnership that is “bigger than a shoe deal” and “bigger than a signature series.”
”This is the partnership of a lifetime. The future of Curry Brand is with Li-Ning,” Curry wrote in a post announcing the deal on his Thirty Ink site. “I couldn’t be more proud to build a long-term vision with Li-Ning that will fuel Curry Brand for years to come and unlock the full potential of this company on a global scale.”
ESPN reports that the deal is for 10 years. Terms were not released.
Curry signed with Nike for the first four seasons of his career before switching to Under Armour in 2013. After announcing his sneaker free agency early in the 2025-26 season, Curry wore shoes from a variety of companies during warmups and games. In April, Curry auctioned off more than 70 pairs of those shoes through Sotheby’s, raising more than $1.7 million for his charitable foundation.
While many of his shoe choices had special significance — like when he honored Kobe and Gianna Bryant by warming up in Nike Kobe 6 Protro “Mambacita” sneakers — Curry also was doing his due diligence as a businessman.
“Throughout my sneaker free agency, I was impressed by the quality, comfort and performance of Li-Ning’s shoes,” Curry said. “It was during that time playing in Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler’s sneakers, that I knew that Li-Ning could be the right partner that can deliver on the innovation and design that I want Curry Brand to stand for.”
Li-Ning (the company) was founded by Li Ning — the Chinese gymnast who won six medals, including three gold, during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics — in 1990. A handful of NBA players have signed with the company , starting with then-Cleveland Cavaliers guard Damon Jones in 2006 and also including former Clippers guard Baron Davis and future Hall of Famers Wade and Shaquille O’Neal.
In addition to Curry’s Golden State teammate Butler, other current NBA stars signed with Li-Ning include Atlanta’s C.J. McCollum and Washington’s D’Angelo Russell.
According to Curry, Li-Ning will open Curry Brand stores in the United States and China.
“We’ll be proudly building Curry Brand into a future leading company that will leave its mark in Basketball, in Golf and across the lifestyle space,” Curry wrote.
“We’ll aim to create game-changing products, launch elevated platforms and bring storytelling that will inspire young boys and girls around the globe. My hope is for young athletes to find the same purpose, joy and drive through sports that I’ve long enjoyed throughout this journey.”
