The newest women’s basketball league, Unrivaled, will tip-off its inaugural season on Friday night in Miami on TNT when the 3-on-3 league’s co-founders go head-to-head, as Napheesa Collier’s Lunar Owls take on Breanna Stewart’s Mist.
The league has garnered plenty of intrigue in recent months as it has rolled out an impressive roster of stars for its first season, but beyond the names they’ve gotten, there’s also interest in the league’s format. Up until the week of the first games, we had gotten very little in the way of information about the league, beyond it being 3-on-3, but not played halfcourt like in the Olympics (or BIG3) and instead on a condensed full court.
The goal is clearly to keep things moving quickly and have a fun, fast-paced game, and on Tuesday, ESPN’s Kendra Andrews provided some more details on the game format and some unique rules for Unrivaled play. The games will feature four quarters of play, with the first three being seven minutes each and the fourth quarter being played to a target score, which they are calling the “winning score” — with the winning score being 11 points more than the team leading the game has through three quarters. That should lead to pretty snappy games, likely in the range of 30 minutes of game time, and the clock will only stop after made baskets in the last 30 seconds.
Unrivaled will also have one-shot free throws, meaning that players who get fouled on a 3-pointer, 2-pointer, or gets an and-1 will all shoot one free throw each, but the free throw will be worth 3, 2, or 1 point depending on the situation. That’s meant to keep the game moving along quickly, as is the 18-second shot clock, which will further encourage teams to play up-tempo. The other notable rule is that players will foul out after six fouls, but if a team only has three available players and one picks up six fouls, they can stay in the game but each subsequent foul is a technical foul that sends the other team to the line for one shot and the ball.
All told, it certainly seems like Unrivaled games will be entertaining to watch and avoid dragging on for longer than is needed. A blowout will end as quickly as the team winning can score 11 in the fourth quarter, while a close game will feature plenty of late drama as each possession will be a frantic effort from both sides to score or get a stop.