Tim BontempsESPN
The NBA G League unveiled its 2022-23 schedule on Thursday, and along with it an interesting wrinkle for the upcoming season: Every G League game that goes to overtime will end not with a timed period, but instead with an Elam Ending.
Under the Elam Ending format, the game clock will be shut off during the overtime period and teams must hit a final target score in order to win. The target score will be set by adding seven points to the game score at the end of regulation. For example, if the score is tied at 100 after four quarters, the final target score in overtime would be 107 points. The first team to score seven points in overtime wins.
The G League will also employ the Elam Ending format during its annual Las Vegas showcase in December, when all 30 teams participate. The fourth quarter of each game will be played to a final target score of 25 points added to the leading team’s score after three quarters. For example, if the score of a game after three quarters is 90-85, the final target score would be 115 points, meaning the first team to reach it wins the game.
The NBA adopted the Elam Ending format for its All-Star Game beginning in 2020 in Chicago, after it became popular from its use in The Basketball Tournament over the past several years.
While it being utilized in the G League is far from a guarantee it will ever be used in NBA regular-season or playoff games in any fashion, the G League has been used as a testing ground for potential changes in the NBA over the past several seasons.
Meanwhile, this season will also be the first time the G League Ignite, a team that includes several 2023 NBA draft prospects, and the Mexico City Capitanes will play a full 50-game schedule — 24 home games, 24 road games and two at the annual showcase in Las Vegas.
The Ignite will play their home games in Las Vegas this season after relocating from California. The Capitanes will play their full schedule in Mexico City, with the first G League game ever played there taking place on Nov. 6, when Mexico City hosts the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.