Basketball (NCAA Men) vs Creator Basketball (NBA Creator Cup) — Same Game, Different Rules

Men's ball: size 7, circumference 29.5 inches (74.9 cm), weight 22 oz (623 g); NCAA-approved/NFHS-spec leather or composite cover; orange color standard; Basket: 18-inch diameter ring at 10 feet (3.05 m) height

Protective accessories such as mouthguards, ankle braces, or knee pads are not established as mandatory for Creator Cup participants in available NBA reporting and are omitted here rather than assumed.

Team bench seating along one sideline with the scoring/timing table opposite. Coach's box defined for the head coach with a 28-foot designated coaching area extending from the baseline.

The sixth-edition 2026 Creator Cup was staged at The Pavilion at UNLV in Las Vegas, Nevada, as the closing game of NBA Summer League's opening night (July 9, 2026), on the venue's standard NBA-spec hardwood court.; The separate All-Star "Season 2" staging of the Creator Cup was played on Creator ...

NCAA men's basketball uses a coaches'-challenge framework allowing a head coach to request video review of designated reviewable situations (out-of-bounds calls in the last 2 minutes, basket interf...

Sixth-edition (2026 Summer League) format: two creator rosters of nine players each — per NBA.com reporting, this is "two competing creator rosters" rather than a traditional 3-on-3 setup. In the 2026 staging, Team Pierre (coached by Pierre Andresen of Enjoy Basketball) faced Team Darrick (coache...

The game begins with a jump ball at the center circle. Subsequent jump-ball situations are resolved by the alternating-possession rule — the arrow indicates which team gets possession.

, a foul on a 2-point attempt is worth two points on a single made free throw; a foul on a 3-point attempt is worth three points on a single made free throw). This rule was adapted from a G League procedure used since the 2019–20 season.

Field goal inside the three-point arc: 2 points; Field goal beyond the three-point arc: 3 points; Free throw: 1 point

Baseline scoring values (field goal, three-point shot) follow standard basketball scoring; free-throw scoring during regulation levels follows the One Free Throw Rule described in Section 5, where a single made free throw carries the full point value (1, 2, or 3) of the shooting foul it replaces....

A player is disqualified ("fouls out") after committing 5 personal fouls; Common personal fouls: blocking, charging, pushing, holding, hand-checking, illegal screen; Shooting fouls: 2 or 3 free throws depending on the foul location; and-one if the basket counts

Standard basketball violations (traveling, double-dribble, backcourt/shot-clock violations where a shot clock is in use) apply as in standard play; Creator Cup reporting does not document Creator-Cup-specific violation categories beyond the modified shooting-foul procedure covered in Section 5.; ...

NCAA medical observers and team medical staff have authority to remove a player from the game for actual or suspected concussion. Removed players are subject to a graduated return-to-play assessment before being cleared for subsequent competition.

As an NBA-branded exhibition staged inside NBA and Summer League venues (The Pavilion at UNLV; NBA Crossover at the Los Angeles Convention Center), the Creator Cup operates within the host venue's standard event medical and athletic-safety provisi...