INDIANAPOLIS (WOWO): The NBA Cup Championship is heading to one of Indiana’s most iconic basketball venues.
The NBA announced Tuesday that the 2026-27 Emirates NBA Cup Championship Game will be played December 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University. It marks the first time the championship game will be held outside of Las Vegas, which hosted the tournament’s first three title games.
NBA officials said Hinkle’s rich basketball tradition made it an ideal destination for the league’s growing in-season tournament.
“Hinkle Fieldhouse offers a special setting to capture the excitement and drama of the Emirates NBA Cup Championship,” said Kelly Flatow, the NBA’s Head of Global Events. “Playing the championship in an iconic basketball environment like this will further establish it as a signature moment on the NBA calendar.”
Opened in 1928, Hinkle Fieldhouse is one of the nation’s most historic basketball arenas. The 9,100-seat venue has hosted NCAA Tournament games, state championship contests, NBA and WNBA games, and numerous other sporting and civic events throughout its history.
The arena is perhaps best known for hosting Indiana’s high school boys basketball state finals for decades, including the legendary 1954 championship won by Milan High School—a game that inspired the classic basketball film Hoosiers. Hinkle also served as the filming location for the movie’s championship scenes.
Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson also won two Indiana state championships at Hinkle while playing for Crispus Attucks High School in the 1950s.
Former Butler coach and current Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens once described the atmosphere inside Hinkle by saying, “Hinkle Fieldhouse gets loud, and it gets as loud as loud gets.”
The Los Angeles Lakers won the inaugural NBA Cup in 2023, when the event debuted as the NBA’s in-season tournament. The Milwaukee Bucks captured the title in 2024, followed by the New York Knicks in 2025.
The NBA Cup Championship returning to Indiana adds another chapter to the state’s long-standing reputation as one of the nation’s premier basketball destinations.
