It's not a bad idea, since they don't rank playoff teams using divisions+wildcard like the NHL. Like you said, divisions in NBA now seem pretty useless. Can at least have a use for keeping the division system.

It seems like you'd almost always have that with divisions, too.

Undisciplined

Stacker_Sports

NBA Emirates Cup Survivor Pool Recap

> I don't recall exactly, but it has to do with previous season standings.

You are correct. According to the NBA site.

https://www.nba.com/news/2024-nba-cup-group-draw-results

>All 30 teams have been randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on win-loss records from the 2023-24 regular season.

It seems they do a random draw but at the same time basing the random draws on previous season standings. I guess they want to make sure to have a good mix of good, mediocre, and bad teams in each group.