First settle any shot, called foul or replay review at the end of the fourth quarter. If the resulting score is tied, the NBA uses a full five-minute overtime, then repeats that process for as many extra periods as necessary.
This page applies the NBA 2025-26 Official Playing Rules, principally Rules 5, 6, 12B, 13 and 14. It was checked against the NBA's official PDF and live rule pages on 26 August 2026.
The NBA had not published a complete 2026-27 playing-rules edition in the official materials checked by that date. This page therefore does not pre-apply Summer League trials or assume that WNBA, NBA G League, NCAA, FIBA, youth or local competitions use the same overtime procedure.
NBA Rule 6, Sections I and V, requires a center-circle jump ball at the start of each overtime. Possession does not alternate from the fourth quarter and does not automatically go to the team that lost an earlier opening tip.
The game clock starts when either jumper legally taps the ball. The shot clock starts when a player obtains possession. If the toss is not legally touched before a violation, no time comes off either clock. Either team may choose any eligible player already in the game to jump.
During the first three minutes of overtime, a successful field goal does not by itself stop the game clock. Once the display shows 2:00 or less, NBA Rule 5, Sections II and V, treats the game as being in its two-minute part and stops the timing devices after a successful field goal.
Whistles stop the timing devices throughout overtime. The clock shows tenths during the final minute. These timing rules create more stoppages late in the period, but they do not create sudden death or a target score.
Under NBA Rule 12B, Section V, the first three common fouls charged as team fouls in an overtime period ordinarily lead to a sideline throw-in when no separate foul penalty applies. Common team fouls in excess of three—normally the fourth and later—are penalized by one free throw plus a penalty free throw.
The final-two-minute protection matters when a team has not reached three team fouls in the first three minutes. That team may commit one common team foul in the last two minutes without entering the penalty; the next common team foul triggers it. If the team already used all three before 2:00, its next common foul is already over the quota.
Flagrant, punching, away-from-the-play, clear-path and transition-take fouls retain their separate penalties and also enter the team total. An ordinary offensive foul does not become two penalty free throws merely because the opponent is in the penalty.
NBA Rule 5, Section VI, allows each team two team timeouts in an overtime period. A player in the game or the head coach may request one when the ball is dead or when a player on that team controls it; a request at another time is ignored.
In the last two minutes, an offensive team that calls an eligible timeout while the ball is in its backcourt—before advancing it after a rebound or change of possession—may choose to inbound at the 28-foot hash mark in the frontcourt instead of the designated backcourt spot. If the player first dribbles or passes after gaining possession and then obtains the timeout, that frontcourt-advance option is no longer available on that basis.
An excessive timeout is granted but produces a technical foul. After the technical free throw, the opponent receives the ball at the point of interruption under NBA Rule 12A, Section I.
NBA Rule 13 automatically triggers review of a made field goal with 0:00 showing and a foul called with 0:00 at the end of any period. In the last two minutes of overtime, officials may also trigger specified reviews when they are not reasonably certain—for example, rim contact affecting a clock reset, restricted-area position on a called block/charge, or a called goaltending or basket-interference violation.
That does not make every late no-call or judgment automatically reviewable. Under Rule 14, each team receives one Coach's Challenge for the game and earns a second only if its first is successful. The challenge supply does not refresh in overtime, and initiating one ordinarily requires an available timeout. During the final two minutes, called goaltending or basket interference is exclusively official-triggered rather than coach-challengeable.
NBA Rule 5, Section III, says each period ends when time expires, but it preserves the outcome of a field-goal attempt already in flight. The period ends when that attempt is made, missed or touched by an offensive player. A timely shot can therefore win the game or create another overtime after the display reaches 0:00.
If a shooting foul is called at the end of the period, the period ends after the foul is reviewed when required and penalized. Those free throws can break the tie, create a tie or leave a lead intact. A timeout request made as time expires is not granted.
The NBA's published 2026 Emirates NBA Cup format says overtime scoring does not count toward the point-differential and total-points tiebreakers in Group Play. For those standings calculations, a game that reaches overtime has a point differential of zero and its overtime points are excluded from total points scored.
That provision changes tournament tiebreaker accounting, not the winner of the game. It should not be mistaken for sudden death or for a different on-court overtime length.
Situation: with the score tied, a player releases a two-point attempt before the horn. The display reaches 0:00 while the ball is in flight, and the shot goes in.
NBA 2025-26 ruling: Rule 13 triggers a review of the made field goal at 0:00. If replay confirms the ball left the shooter's hand in time and no reviewable defect invalidates it, the basket counts and that team wins. The tie is tested after the shot is resolved, not merely when the clock first displays zero.
Situation: a team trails by one when its player misses a two-point attempt but is fouled in the act of shooting at 0:00.
NBA 2025-26 ruling: the called foul is reviewed as Rule 13 requires and, if it stands as timely, the shooter receives the applicable free throws. Making both wins the game; making one leaves the score tied and requires another overtime; missing both leaves the opponent ahead. The foul administration is part of deciding the final score.
Situation: Blue has committed two common team fouls when the overtime clock reaches 2:00. Blue commits another ordinary non-shooting defensive foul at 1:20, then another at 0:40.
NBA 2025-26 ruling: the 1:20 foul is Blue's one permitted common team foul in the last two minutes because Blue had not reached three earlier; it ordinarily results in a throw-in. The 0:40 foul is the next one and puts Blue over the overtime quota, so the offended player receives two penalty free throws.
Situation: Red secures a defensive rebound in the backcourt at 0:35 and calls an available timeout before dribbling or passing.
NBA 2025-26 ruling: Rule 5, Section VI(g), gives Red the option to put the ball in play at the 28-foot hash mark in the frontcourt or at the designated backcourt spot. Had Red advanced the ball first, the special advancement option would not arise from that timeout.
Source note: playing-rule claims were checked against the 2025-26 NBA rules on 26 August 2026. The 2026 NBA Cup note uses the competition's separately published format. A later 2026-27 NBA playing-rules edition or competition regulation may supersede or supplement this baseline.