Nick Elam on the Elam Ending: "I believe in it that much that I’ve never had to be phony about it"

Anyone who has watched an NBA basketball game knows the script for the final minutes. It goes like this: the margin is either too wide for a team to try and make a comeback or the game is so close that there is either a chance at a last-second buzzer-beating shot or the team that is losing has to attempt to repeatedly foul the leading team in the hopes they miss their foul shots and the losing squad can attempt a miraculous comeback. In the end, the result is often a lot of foul shots signifying nothing—they merely draw out the inevitable. It’s common, thus, that the final, say, 45-seconds of an NBA game can last 20 minutes with all the breaks for free-throws.

But Nick Elam had an idea to change all that. Ever since 2007, Elam has been working to flip the game-ending script with his “Elam Ending.” With this concept, the final quarter of a basketball game is not timed (or at least a large chunk of it is played without a clock). Instead, there is a “target score” added to the leading team’s total. And to win the game, either team has to hit that final target score, rather than hold off its opponent from coming back as the seconds tick away.

In this interview, we caught up with Elam to ask him about the origins of his idea, which has been used in various leagues around the world, including most recently in the NBA All-Star game since 2020. We also asked what his plans are for the concept moving forward, how he goes about promoting it to new leagues and more.