Unrivaled
Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier’s new 3-on-3 league, Unrivaled, will tip off on Friday night, marking the debut of a new era for women’s professional basketball. Unrivaled will not ony give WNBA stars a chance to stay at home and compete during the offseason, but the opportunity to take ownership in the league.
Everything about the league, from its creation to the financial arrangement, which will see the initial 36 players receive equity, is unique. That includes the games themselves, which will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen in women’s professional basketball.
Here’s a quick breakdown of everything you need to know.
3-on-3, but still “fullcourt”
The most important aspect to know about Unrivaled is that it will be 3-on-3 basketball instead of the traditional 5-on-5 game we see in the WNBA, but it will still be “fullcourt.” The Unrivaled court will be 70 feet long, which is about three-fourths the length of the WNBA’s 94-foot long court. The playing surface’s 50-foot width will remain the same.
“This game is rooted in how you would play basketball as a kid on a black top,” Luke Cooper, Unrivaled president of basketball operations, told ESPN. “There’s flow. There’s pace. When you are watching, it feels like you are watching basketball … it’s not a gimmick.”
Games played to a “winning score”
Another big change in Unrivaled is that games will be played to a “winning score” instead of a final buzzer.
The first three quarters will be seven minutes long, followed by a fourth quarter that utilizes the Elam Ending — made famous by the 2020 NBA All-Star Game. After the third quarter, the “winning score” will be determined by adding 11 points to the leading team’s score. The two teams will then play to that point total, and the first team to reach it wins.
For example, if Lunar Owls BC are leading Laces BC, 65-57 after three quarters, the winning score will be 76, and the first team to get to 76 points wins the game. Under this format, overtime is not a possibility.
“We want this to be about basketball,” Cooper said. “You’re just playing to a score, which is honestly the purest form of basketball. When you played as a kid, no one played to 10 minutes when they were playing pickup. You throw a number out there and you played to it until someone hit a game winner.”
Shorter shot clock
Unrivaled is pushing a fast-paced style. Not only by playing 3-on-3 on a fullcourt, but by implementing a shorter shot clock. The games will use an 18-second shot clock, which is a significant difference from the WNBA (24 seconds) and college (30 seconds).
That 18-second shot clock will remain in place during the untimed fourth quarter.
Fewer free throws
Another way to speed up the game is to reduce the amount of free throws. In Unrivaled, each trip to the free throw line will result in just one attempt.
If a player is fouled on a two-point shot, they will get one free throw worth two points, and if they’re fouled on a three-point shot, they’ll get one free throw worth three points. In the event of an old-fashioned three-point play, the lone free throw will still just be worth one point.
On the foul front, players will foul out after six personals. In the event that a team, through injuries or other absences, only has three available players, no one will not be able to foul out. Instead, a player who picks up six fouls would remain in the game, but each additional foul would be a technical as well, with an extra free throw, worth one point, awarded to the opposing team.
