Oklahoma City's dominance — plus some evidence that teams treat Cup games differently — suggest the NBA's in-season tournament is edging closer to playoff territory.
An eyeball test for respecting the cup might be whether teams are apparently trying to keep their point differential up (since this is the only time point differential means anything in the NBA), perhaps by comparing late-game tactics between regular and cup games.
If the NBA really wants teams to take it seriously, make winning the cup count for one higher seed than you actually get: non-postseason gets 10, 10 gets 9, etc. up to 2 getting promoted to 1. Being guaranteed a 10 seed isn't going to cause a team to coast for 4 months.
An eyeball test for respecting the cup might be whether teams are apparently trying to keep their point differential up (since this is the only time point differential means anything in the NBA), perhaps by comparing late-game tactics between regular and cup games.
If the NBA really wants teams to take it seriously, make winning the cup count for one higher seed than you actually get: non-postseason gets 10, 10 gets 9, etc. up to 2 getting promoted to 1. Being guaranteed a 10 seed isn't going to cause a team to coast for 4 months.