LAS VEGAS (AP) — All Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did last season was lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to the NBA title, win a scoring crown, claim the league's MVP award and cap it all off by winning NBA Finals MVP.
Only one thing was missing.
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Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley shouts to players during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson takes the ball upcourt during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Orlando Magic, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/John Munson)
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson gestures in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shoots during the second half of an NBA Cup basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
Silly as it might sound for a team that went 68-14 in the regular season and won the NBA title and is off to a record-tying 24-1 start this season, the NBA Cup is very much a motivator for the Thunder. They played in the Cup final last year and lost. They're back in Las Vegas for the Cup semifinals this season, knowing the only trophy that got away last year is just two wins away.
“It would be phenomenal,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, whose Thunder are a staggering 88-17, including playoffs, since losing last season’s Cup final to Milwaukee. “Every game I play, we play as a team, we wake up in the morning and before the game starts we want to win the game. ... Whenever you get a chance to play for something and win, it’s always the goal to win. It’s always the same feeling. So it would be phenomenal to win, that’s for sure.”
The semifinals are Saturday: New York vs. Orlando from the Eastern Conference side of the bracket, San Antonio — with Victor Wembanyama back — vs. Oklahoma City on the Western Conference side.
“Their record is that for a reason,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. "And until someone knocks them off, obviously they are the champs.”
The winners will play Tuesday in the title game, one that won't count in the season's stats or standings.
“You’ve got to give the NBA credit,” New York coach Mike Brown said. “Everybody naturally fights change or wants to say something against change. I was one of those guys when they came up with the Cup idea, I was like, ‘Oh, man, for what? In the middle of the season? We are trying to do this and that and practice and blah, blah, blah.’ ... Initially I doubted them on the Cup, initially I doubted them on the play-in games, and they are both phenomenal. So, I really don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.”
Brown lauded Commissioner Adam Silver for the innovations like the NBA Cup and the Play-In Tournament, both of which have been widely considered as smashing successes.
The motivator for the play-in games is simple: A spot in the playoffs is on the line. The motivator for Cup games is also simple: There's money up for grabs. The teams that are here have clinched $106,187 in prize money per player (half that amount for two-way players) so far. Semifinal winners see their total pushed to $212,373 and for winning the Cup, the number goes to $530,933. So, no, Tuesday night won't count in the standings, but more than $300,000 per player is at stake.
“When you are playing for something extra like that, you want to go after it,” Orlando forward Paolo Banchero said. “And then I think as far as besides the money, I think it’s just the atmosphere that is created when it’s a Cup game, whether it’s at home or on the road. ... I wouldn’t say it’s a playoff environment, but it’s definitely not a normal regular-season game environment. Stuff is a little elevated. Teams play a little harder.”
It's a small sample size — this is only Year 3 of the Cup event — but teams that have made it to Vegas in the past have insisted that there were tangible, positive benefits. Indiana made it to the final against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2023-24 and the Pacers said that fueled that run to the East finals in each of the following two postseasons. And the Thunder said losing to Milwaukee provided valuable lessons on their road to last season's title.
The Spurs haven't been to the NBA Finals since 2014. The Magic, not since 2009. The Knicks, not since 1999. The Cup isn't the finals, but seeds could be planted here to give some sort of glimpse of what that level looks like.
“I think it’s great for our guys ... the bright lights, the stakes,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. “I think these guys understand what is at stake and the intensity, the focus, the game planning that you have to go through. Those are such great pieces for us to experience.”
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Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley shouts to players during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson takes the ball upcourt during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Orlando Magic, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/John Munson)
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson gestures in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shoots during the second half of an NBA Cup basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
If Indiana Republican senators had any doubt about what to do with President Donald Trump's redistricting proposal, he helped them make up their minds the night before this week's vote.
In a social media screed, Trump accused the state's top senator of being “a bad guy, or a very stupid one."
“That kind of language doesn’t help,” said Sen. Travis Holdman, a banker and lawyer from near Fort Wayne who voted against the plan.
He was among 21 Republican senators who dealt Trump one of the most significant political defeats of his second term by rejecting redistricting in Indiana. The decision undermined the president's national campaign to redraw congressional maps to boost his party's chances in the upcoming midterm elections.
In interviews after Thursday's vote, several Republican senators said they were leaning against the plan from the start because their constituents didn't like it. But in a Midwest nice rebuttal to America's increasingly coarse political discourse, some said they simply didn't like the president's tone, like when he called senators “suckers.”
“I mean, that’s pretty nasty,” said Sen. Jean Leising, a farm owner from Oldenburg who works at her daughter’s travel agency.
Trump didn't seem to get the message. Asked about the vote, the president once again took aim at Indiana's top senator, Rodric Bray.
“He’ll probably lose his next primary, whenever that is," Trump said. "I hope he does, because he’s done a tremendous disservice.”
Sen. Sue Glick, an attorney from La Grange who also opposed redistricting, brushed off Trump's threat to unseat lawmakers who defied him.
“I would think he would have better things to do,” she said. “It would be money better spent electing the individuals he wants to represent his agenda in Congress.”
The president tried to brush off the defeat, telling reporters he “wasn’t working on it very hard."
But the White House had spent months engaged in what Republican Sen. Andy Zay described as “a full-court press.”
Vice President JD Vance met with senators twice in Indiana and once in Washington. White House aides frequently checked in over the phone.
Holdman said the message behind the scenes was often more soothing than Trump's social media attacks.
“We were getting mixed messages," he said. “Two days before the vote, they wanted to declare a truce on Sen. Bray. And the next day, there’s a post on Truth Social that didn’t sound like truce language to me.”
Some of Trump's other comments caused backlash too. For example, he described Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as “retarded,” which upset Sen. Mike Bohacek because his daughter has Down syndrome. Bohacek had been skeptical of redistricting and decided to vote no in response.
The White House did not respond to questions about outreach to senators, but it distanced itself from conservative allies who claimed Trump had threatened to withhold money from the state.
"President Trump loves the great state of Indiana," said spokesman Davis Ingle, who insisted Trump "has never threatened to cut federal funding and it’s 100% fake news to claim otherwise.”
Regardless, Trump had struggled to get traction despite months of pressure.
Holdman said he turned down an invitation to the White House last month because he had a scheduling conflict.
“Plus, by then it was a little too late,” he said.
Leising said she missed a call from a White House official the day before a vote while she was in a committee meeting. She didn't try to call back because she wasn't going to change her mind.
Mitch Daniels, a former Indiana governor and a Republican, had a straightforward explanation for what happened.
“Folks in our state don’t react well to being bullied,” he said.
Some Republicans lashed out at senators for defying Trump.
"His life was threatened — and he was nearly assassinated," Indiana Lieutenant Gov. Micah Beckwith wrote on social media. “All for what? So that Indiana politicians could grow timid.”
The message to the president, Beckwith said, was “go to hell.”
But senators who opposed redistricting said they were just listening to their constituents. Some believed the unusual push to redraw districts was the equivalent of political cheating. Others didn't like that Washington was telling Indiana what to do.
The proposed map would have divided Indianapolis into four pieces, grafting pieces of the city onto other districts to dilute the influence of Democratic voters. But in small towns near the borders with Kentucky and Ohio, residents feared the state's biggest metropolitan area would gain influence at their expense.
“Constituents just didn’t want it,” Holdman said.
During Thursday's vote on the Senate floor, some Republicans seemed torn about their decision.
Sen. Greg Goode, who is from Terre Haute, said he had spoken twice to Trump on the phone while weighing the redistricting plan. He declared his “love” for the president but decried “over-the-top pressure.”
Goode said he wouldn't vote for the proposal.
“I’m confident my vote reflects the will of my constituents," he said.
Protesters are seen through a window in the Senate Chamber during dissuasion before a vote to redistrict the state's congressional map, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray takes a question after a bill to redistrict the state's congressional map was defeated, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
A protester celebrates as they walk outside the Indiana Senate Chamber after a bill to redistrict the state's congressional map was defeated, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Protestors hold signs outside the Indiana Senate chamber before a vote to redistrict the state's congressional map at the Statehouse in Indianapolis, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith announces the results of a vote to redistrict the state's congressional map, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
