Unrivaled is set to begin its inaugural season on Friday. Ahead of the first jump ball of the 3-on-3 basketball league, ESPN's Kendra Andrews explained some of the rules that would be followed in the league. These rules are different from those followed in traditional 3x3 basketball, and rules followed in the leagues such as in the WNBA.
Instead of the conventional 3-on-3 format where teams have a target score, each game has four quarters. In the first three periods, teams will play seven-minute quarters. The winner is determined by a predetermined "winning score" in the final quarter. The winning score is determined after three quarters, by adding 11 points to the score of the team in the lead. The league won't have overtime, per ESPN.
Like the WNBA, Unrivaled has a maximum of six fouls per player. However, if a team only has three players available and one of them has picked up her sixth foul, she will remain in the game. The disadvantage for the team which has a player with six fouls on the floor will be that every foul she incurs will be an automatic technical foul. This gives the opposing team a one-point free throw.
Shooting fouls are different from the WNBA. Players are only allowed one shot from the charity stripe after being fouled during a shot attempt. The single shot is worth two points (for a foul on a two-point field goal attempt). It's worth three points (for a foul on a three-point field goal attempt).
The president of basketball operations for the league, Luke Cooper, spoke about the reasoning behind the league's rules and said:
"This game is rooted in how you would play basketball as a kid on a black top. There's flow. There's pace. When you are watching, it feels like you are watching basketball, it's not a gimmick."
"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."
How big is Unrivaled's basketball court?
Unrivaled will not be played on a WNBA-size court since since it's a 3-on-3 basketball league. Unrivaled's court is 49.2 feet by 72 feet, significantly smaller than the WNBA's 94-by-50 feet court.
The court in the Olympic 3x3 basketball event is a 36-by-49 half court. In the Olympic event, both teams shoot at the same hoop. Unlike the Olympic event, Unrivaled will be played on a full size court with teams going back and forth to score.
The new basketball league announced that it will host a 1-on-1 tournament from February 10 to 14. The tournament will follow the single-elimination format and features a winner-take-all competition. The winning player will take home a $250,000 reward. The winner's teammates will also receive a bonus of $10,000.