Women's National Basketball Association - Rules and Regulations

Rules and Regulations

Rules are governed by standard basketball rules as defined by the NBA, with a few notable exceptions:

  • The three-point line is 20 feet 6.25 inches (6.25 m) from the middle of the basket. This is the same distance used under old FIBA rules; however, FIBA has increased its three-point distance to 22 feet 2 inches (6.75 m) since October 1, 2012 (for domestic competitions).
  • The regulation WNBA ball is a minimum 28.5 inches (72.4 cm) in circumference, 1 inch (2.54 cm) smaller than the NBA ball. As of 2004, this size is used for all senior-level women's competitions worldwide.
  • Quarters are 10 minutes in duration instead of 12.
  • There is no defensive 3-second rule.

Games are divided into four 10-minute quarters as opposed to the league's original two 20-minute halves of play, similar with FIBA rules (many WNBA players play in European or Australian leagues, which all use the FIBA rule set).

A recent trend with new WNBA rules has been to match them with a similar NBA rule. Beginning with the 2006 WNBA season:

  • The winner of the opening jump ball shall begin the 4th quarter with the ball out of bounds. The loser shall begin with the ball out of bounds in the second and third quarter. Previously under the two-half format, both periods started with jump balls, presumably to eliminate the possibility of a team purposely losing the opening tip in order to gain the opening possession of the second half. This is not a problem under the four-quarters because the winner of the opening tip gets the opening possession of the final period.
  • The shot clock was decreased from 30 to 24 seconds. The rule changes signaled a move away from rules more similar to those of college basketball and toward those that provide a more NBA-like game. FIBA also uses a 24-second clock.

The 2007 WNBA season brought changes that included:

  • The amount of time that a team must move the ball across the half-court line went from 10 to 8 seconds.
  • A referee can grant time-outs to either a player or the coach.
  • Two free throws and possession of the ball for clear-path-to-the-basket foul. Previously only one free throw was awarded as well as possession.

In 2012, the WNBA added the block/charge arc under the basket.

Read more about this topic:  Women's National Basketball Association

Famous quotes containing the words rules and, rules and/or regulations:

    Children can’t make their own rules and no child is happy without them. The great need of the young is for authority that protects them against the consequences of their own primitive passions and their lack of experience, that provides with guides for everyday behavior and that builds some solid ground they can stand on for the future.
    Leontine Young (20th century)

    This is no argument against teaching manners to the young. On the contrary, it is a fine old tradition that ought to be resurrected from its current mothballs and put to work...In fact, children are much more comfortable when they know the guide rules for handling the social amenities. It’s no more fun for a child to be introduced to a strange adult and have no idea what to say or do than it is for a grownup to go to a formal dinner and have no idea what fork to use.
    Leontine Young (20th century)

    If it were possible to make an accurate calculation of the evils which police regulations occasion, and of those which they prevent, the number of the former would, in all cases, exceed that of the latter.
    Karl Wilhelm Von Humboldt (1767–1835)