NBA Cup Group Preview: Bulls Face Celtics, Trio of Southeast Teams

The Chicago Bulls are in East Group C for the Emirates NBA Cup, which tips-off today, Friday, October 30th. 

The Bulls' group contains the Boston Celtics, and a trio of Southeast Division teams in the Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks. 

Whether intentional or not, East Group C has some of the best wing matchups on paper. 

Chicago tips off their NBA Cup schedule with a matchup with Jayson Tatum, Paul George and the Boston Celtics. Chicago recently suffered a 134-99 drubbing by the Celtics, a game in which Tatum and George combined for 39 points.

Boston used a 39-point-third quarter to put away a Chicago team that didn't receive much efficient scoring outbursts sans Norman Powell. Boston has their eyes set on bigger goals than the NBA Cup, but they will use these games as an opportunity to try to put opponents away early and generate valuable playing time for their young players.

Chicago will need more from Matas Buzelis--who had 11 points on six FGAs in the first game vs. Boston--if they hope to slow down the Celtics' veteran wing duo of Tatum and George. 

Atlanta and Charlotte are interesting opponents because they are squads that recently made major changes, swapping out their franchise players for a new direction. 

The Hawks have a balanced group centered around the talents of two-way force Jalen Johnson--who is averaging a robust 19 PPG, 9.5 RPG and 8.5 APG--and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

Alexander-Walker, who is a masterful perimeter defender, has upped his offensive production and averaged 20+ PPG over his entire Hawks tenure so far. No. 8 overall draft pick Kingston Flemings has yet to make a Wilson-like impact, but he did have a 23-point, 5-assist game on Wednesday night. The Bulls take on the Hawks in Cup group play on Friday, November 13th. 

Charlotte traded franchise cornerstone LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves, rebuilding their team around Coby White, Kon Knueppel, Grayson Allen and a the general concept of shooters at every position. The Bulls first group play game against Charlotte takes place on November 25th.

At the time of this writing, Charlotte is second in the league with 43.2 3-point attempts per game, and Chicago is 4th in the league with 42 attempts per game from 3-point range. The Charlotte-Chicago matchups are sure to be some of the most perimeter-oriented and 3-point-heavy games of the season. 

Finally, the Washington Wizards matchup will be perhaps the best viewing experience, as it will pit 2026 No. 1 overall draft pick AJ Dybantsa against No. 4 overall pick Caleb Wilson, with the group play matchup set for November 20th.

Dybantsa dropped 19 points on 66% shooting in his NBA debut, a 121-111 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

At the time of this writing, Caleb Wilson is one of three rookies averaging 20+ PPG (Yaxel Lendeborg and Darius Acuff are the other two). This season's Wizards-Bulls matchups will likely be centered around Dybantsa attempting to join that illustrious group. 

If teams are tied following the group stage of the NBA Cup, head-to-head record in group play, point differential in group play, total points scored in group play, previous season's regular-season record and random drawing (if still tied) are used to determine who moves on to the knockout stage. The quarterfinals for the knockout stage start on December 4–5, 2026.