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)
HELSINGBORG, Sweden (AP) — NATO allies and defense officials expressed bewilderment Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of Europe.
The apparent change of mind came after weeks of statements from Trump and his administration about reducing — not increasing — the U.S. military footprint in Europe. Trump's initial order set off a flurry of action among military commanders and left allies already doubtful about America's commitment to Europe's security to ponder what forces they might have to backfill on NATO's eastern flank with Russia and Ukraine.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and U.S. officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer rotating into Poland from Germany. The dispatch to Germany of U.S. personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was also halted.
But in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he would now send "an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” citing his strong ties with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed in elections last year.
“It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters Friday at a meeting she was hosting of her NATO counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ministers from the Netherlands and Norway were sanguine about Trump’s latest move, as was Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, who said allies knew the U.S. troop “posture was being reconsidered, and now there is no change of posture. For now.”
U.S. defense officials also expressed confusion. “We just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don’t know what this means either,” said one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.
But Rubio said Washington’s allies understand that changes in the U.S. troop presence in Europe will come as the Trump administration reevaluates its force needs. “I think there’s a broad recognition that there are going to be eventually less U.S. troops in Europe than there has historically been for a variety of reasons,” he said.
The latest surprise came despite a U.S. pledge to coordinate troop deployments, including one from NATO’s top military officer, U.S. Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, on Wednesday.
Trump's initial announcement that he would withdraw troops came as he fumed over remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticized what he called a lack of strategy in that war.
Trump told reporters that the U.S. would be cutting even more than 5,000 and also announced new tariffs on European cars. Germany is the continent’s biggest auto producer.
Rubio insisted that Trump’s decision “is not a punitive thing. It’s just something that’s ongoing.”
About 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe. The Pentagon is required to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment on the continent unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests.
The withdrawal of 5,000 troops might drop numbers below that limit.
But Trump's latest post suggests that troop numbers in Europe would not change. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski welcomed the decision to send more forces to his country, saying it ensures that “the presence of American troops in Poland will be maintained more or less at previous levels.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also welcomed the move. On Thursday, before Trump took to Truth Social again, Rutte had underlined that it was important for Europe to take care of its own security. “We have a process in place. This is normal business,” he told reporters.
At NATO headquarters in Brussels, meanwhile, U.S. officials briefed the allies on the Pentagon's aims for its commitments to the NATO Force Model, which involves contingency planning for Europe’s defense in the event of serious security concerns. It was widely expected that a further reduction of U.S. forces would be coming.
Asked whether any cuts were announced, Rutte said: “I’m afraid it’s much more complicated than that.” He said the procedure “is highly classified” and declined to give details.
Rubio played down concerns about a shift in U.S. force levels in Europe, saying: "Every country has to constantly reevaluate what their needs are, what their commitments are around the world, and how to properly structure that.”
Cook reported from Brussels. Associated Press writer Emma Burrows in London contributed.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with journalists during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front second left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, front left, speak with each other during a group photo at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte look at each other as they deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže speaks at the doorstep of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting at Sea U in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives with his wife Jeanette at Malmo Airport, Friday, May 22, 2026, in Malmo-Sturup, Sweden, ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, second from left, shakes hands with Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, as he is greeted by King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Silvia of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Maria Malmer Stenergard, right, before a dinner at Sofiero Castle in Helsingborg, Sweden, Thursday May 21 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
