2024 WNBA rule changes explained, including modifications to challenges and timeouts

The 2024 WNBA season will involve some rule changes. Here’s what you need to know.

The 2024 WNBA season starts May 14, and the league is implementing a few changes that will impact getting some new changes for next year.

When the New York Liberty and Washington Mystics kick off the season at Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C., some things might look slightly different.

Per the WNBA, the WNBA Competition Committee recommended new changes that are being implemented to improve the game’s flow while providing increased flexibility to coaches who want to use their challenges.

Here’s what you can expect to see for 2024:

  • Teams will now be awarded a second coach’s challenge that can be used during regulation or overtime if the first challenge is successful. As with previous rules, a team must use a team timeout to trigger a coach’s challenge.
  • A team can only use a challenge if there is a foul call, out-of-bounds violation or goaltending or basket interference violation. Challenges are limited to foul calls, out-of-bounds violations and goaltending or basket interference.
  • This year, instead of four full team timeouts and two 20-second timeouts, teams will now have five team timeouts and one reset timeout. A reset timeout allows teams to advance the ball and make substitutions but not huddle. Each team will receive one reset timeout in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter and one in the final two minutes of overtime play.