The NBA Cup quarterfinal field was set Friday night, with Miami going to Orlando and New York going to Toronto on the Eastern Conference side, followed by an Oklahoma City-Phoenix rematch and San Antonio facing the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference.
And the defending Cup champions won't have a chance to go back-to-back in Las Vegas.
New York got the last of the four available quarterfinal berths from the East on Friday night, topping the reigning Cup champion Milwaukee Bucks 118-109 to win East Group C. The Bucks' loss prevented them from moving on to the quarterfinals.
“I told the guys they did a heck of a job finding a way,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said.
Toronto won East Group A, Orlando won East Group B, and both did so with 4-0 records. The Knicks went 3-1 in Group C and finished on top because they held the head-to-head tiebreaker over Miami, which also finished 3-1 to earn the East wild card.
Oklahoma City — the defending NBA champion which is now 19-1 on the season — held off Phoenix on Friday to win West Group A and grab a quarterfinal spot, and San Antonio emerged from a back-and-forth battle in the final minutes to beat Denver in the game that decided West Group C and another quarterfinal berth.
“I don't know much about it other than the guys are really excited about it,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I know we're in because we won. I know we beat some really good teams to do it ... so we feel really good about it.”
The Suns went 3-1 in group play and earned the West's wild-card spot. Their reward? A rematch with the Thunder in the quarterfinals.
“They're feisty as hell. They play hard,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of the Suns.
The Magic won their group with a 112-109 victory over Detroit on Friday night — and as the East's top seed, they will play the wild-card Heat.
“We're so happy to be home,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We have some of the best fans in the NBA. They're going to be back there, supporting us, ready to go. ... For us to do this is very special for our guys right now.”
The Heat-Magic, Knicks-Raptors and Thunder-Suns games will create a bit of a schedule quirk. The quarterfinal games count toward the regular-season records, so Miami and Orlando will wind up playing five times this season — the first time that's happened in the Sunshine State rivalry since 1993-94. The Knicks and Raptors will now also meet five times this season, as will the Thunder and Suns.
The Heat play a regular-season game at Orlando on Dec. 5, their second time there this season, then will go back for a Cup quarterfinal four days later.
“It's great,” Orlando's Desmond Bane said when told the Magic got a home Cup quarterfinal. “We're building. We're building something special.”
The Lakers, who won the inaugural Cup in 2023, were the only West team to be assured of a quarterfinal spot going into Friday.
(All games on Amazon Prime, all times EST)
Tuesday, Dec. 9 — Miami at Orlando, 6 p.m.; New York at Toronto, 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 10 — Phoenix at Oklahoma City, 7:30 p.m.; San Antonio at L.A. Lakers, 10 p.m.
The Miami-Orlando loser will play the New York-Toronto loser, and the Phoenix-Oklahoma City loser will play the San Antonio-L.A. Lakers loser in regular season contests on either Dec. 14 or Dec. 15.
For the quarterfinal winners, the semifinals are in Las Vegas on Dec. 13 and those games will also count toward the regular-season standings. The championship game — which doesn’t count in the standings — is in Las Vegas on Dec. 16.
The 22 teams that missed the quarterfinals all now have two more regular-season games added to their schedules to push their total to the full 82. All teams entered the season with only 80 games on the calendar to allow for what happens in the NBA Cup.
Those games:
Dec. 11 — L.A. Clippers at Houston, Boston at Milwaukee, Portland at New Orleans, Denver at Sacramento.
Dec. 12 — Chicago at Charlotte, Atlanta at Detroit, Indiana at Philadelphia, Cleveland at Washington, Utah at Memphis, Brooklyn at Dallas, Minnesota at Golden State.
Dec. 14 — Washington at Indiana, Philadelphia at Atlanta, Charlotte at Cleveland, Milwaukee at Brooklyn, Sacramento at Minnesota, Golden State at Portland.
Dec. 15 — Detroit at Boston, New Orleans at Chicago, Dallas at Utah, Houston at Denver, Memphis at L.A. Clippers.
Players on the quarterfinal teams will each get $53,903. The payout increases to $106,187 for berths in the semifinals, $212,373 for a spot in the final — and $530,933 for each player on the winning team.
Two-way players will receive half those amounts, if applicable.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander celebrates a basket during the second half of an NBA Cup basketball game against the Phoenix Suns, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) reacts after the team's win over the Detroit Pistons in an NBA Cup basketball game Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson reacts after being fouled during the second half of an NBA Cup basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was set to address the nation Wednesday night and offer an update on the war in Iran, his first prime-time speech since launching strikes alongside Israel more than a month ago.
The speech will offer Trump a wide audience to articulate clear objectives for the war that could attempt to reconcile weeks of changing goals and often contradictory messages about whether he’s winding down or ready to escalate military operations — even as Iran kept up its attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf neighbors and airstrikes pounded Tehran.
It comes amid rising oil prices, volatile financial markets and polling showing many Americans feel the U.S. military has gone too far in Iran — even as more American troops move into the region for a possible ground offensive. Trump opted not to deliver such an address closer to when the U.S. and Israel first launched attacks 4 1/2 weeks ago, and questions now remain about whether it is now too late for what he says to break through.
A White House official, who was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of the address and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president will talk about the U.S. progress on achieving his goals in Iran and will reiterate his estimated timeline for concluding operations within two to three weeks.
In a social media post Wednesday morning, Trump maintained a belligerent tone, demanding that Iran stop blocking the Strait of Hormuz — the waterway vital to global oil supplies — or the U.S. would bomb the Islamic Republic “back to the Stone Ages.” The president has also said the U.S. “will not have anything to do with” ensuring the security of ships passing through Hormuz — an apparent backtrack from a previous threat to attack Iran’s power grid if it didn’t open the strait by April 6.
In another post, he claimed that “Iran’s New Regime President” wanted a ceasefire. It wasn’t clear to whom the U.S. president was referring since Iran still has the same president. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, called Trump’s claim “false and baseless,” according to a report on Iranian state television.
Speaking earlier to Al Jazeera, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled Tehran’s willingness to keep fighting. “You cannot speak to the people of Iran in the language of threats and deadlines,” he said. “We do not set any deadline for defending ourselves.”
Hours before Trump’s address, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted a lengthy letter in English on his X account appealing to U.S. citizens and stressing that his country had pursued negotiations before the U.S. withdrew from that path. “Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war?” he wrote.
Since the war began on Feb. 28, Trump has offered shifting objectives and repeatedly has said it could be over soon while also threatening to widen the conflict. Thousands of additional U.S. troops are currently heading to the Middle East, and speculation abounds about why.
Trump has also threatened to attack Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub. And the U.S. could decide to send in military forces to secure Iran’s uranium stockpile — a complex and risky operation, fraught with radiation and chemical dangers, experts and former government officials say.
Adding to the confusion is what role Israel — which has been bombing Iran alongside the U.S. — might play in any of these scenarios.
Trump has been under growing pressure to end the war that has been pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other goods. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, is up more than 40% since the start of the war.
The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan aimed at bringing about a ceasefire, including a demand for the strait to be reopened and for its nuclear program to be rolled back.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. And in a report last week by Iranian state TV's English-language broadcaster, an anonymous official was quoted as saying Iran had its own demands to end the fighting, including retaining sovereignty over the strait.
In the interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. He insisted, however, that there were no direct negotiations and said Iran has no faith that talks with the U.S. could yield any results, saying “the trust level is at zero.”
He warned against any U.S. attempt to launch a ground offensive, saying “we are waiting for them.”
In a deal ostensibly to give diplomacy a chance, U.S. officials have given “clear assurances” that Araghchi and Iran's Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf won't be targeted, according to three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
A cruise missile slammed into an oil tanker off Qatar’s coast Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said. The crew was evacuated and no casualties were reported. A Kuwaiti oil tanker came under attack off Dubai the day before, one of more than 20 ships attacked by Iran during the war.
In the United Arab Emirates, a person was killed when he was hit by debris from an intercepted drone in Fujairah, one of the country’s seven emirates.
In Kuwait, the state-run KUNA news agency said a drone hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a large fire.
Jordan’s military said it intercepted a ballistic missile and two drones fired from Iran in the last 24 hours. No casualties were reported. Two drones were also intercepted in Saudi Arabia.
Very early on Thursday, Israel’s military said Iran had launched missiles at the country, the first time of the day.
In Lebanon, at least five people were killed in an Israeli strike on a Beirut neighborhood.
Israel invaded southern Lebanon after the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group began launching missiles into northern Israel days after the outbreak of the war.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million displaced, according to authorities. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
Grambell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami, Farnoush Amiri in New York and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
A young girl is comforted by her father and Israeli soldiers as they take cover in a bomb shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missile strikes in Bnei Brak, Israel, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
People inspect the site of an Israeli strike amid debris and damaged vehicles in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A man feeds stray cats in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The Indian flagged LPG carrier Jag Vasant transporting liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after it arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Firefighters and rescue workers work at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Israel's rescue teams and residents take shelter as sirens sounds next to a site struck by an Iranian missile in Bnei Brak, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A police vehicle is seen through a shattered windshield at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Two men ride scooters past charred debris at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
