The Los Angeles Lakers entered as the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.

[1] If two or more teams in a group had equal records upon completion of group play, the following tiebreakers were applied in this order:[1] Note: Overtime scoring did not count towards the point differential and total points tiebreakers in the Emirates NBA Cup.

[1] To balance the regular season, the teams that did not make the knockout stage played two additional consolation games on December 12 or 13 and 15 or 16, against each other in the same conference, while teams that were eliminated in the quarterfinals played one additional consolation game against each other (from the same conference) on December 15 or 16.

[9] The Thunder struggled with shooting throughout the game, going 5-of-32 from long-range, setting season lows in both field goal and three-point percentage.

Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded a triple-double while leading the Bucks in points (26), rebounds (19), and assists (10).

[11] 0 The Bucks won their first NBA Cup title, and Giannis Antetokounmpo was unanimously given the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for the tournament after the championship game on December 17.

Taurean Prince, who won the 2023 title with the Los Angeles Lakers, became the first player to win multiple NBA Cups.

[20] As was the case last season, ESPN and TNT collaborated to cover the semifinals, with the "Inside the NBA" crew joining the "NBA Countdown" crew for certain segments, and Stephen A. Smith joining TNT for certain segments, including a friendly free-throw and 3-point shooting competition.

The championship game was broadcast for the second and final year of its deal on ABC (including local stations WISN-TV in Milwaukee and KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City), before moving to Prime Video in 2025.

[22] The game was also streamed for the first time on ESPN+ as part of a modified rearrangement that saw the platform simulcasting more events from ABC since August 2024.