July 12 (UPI) — The NBA’s board of governors has authorized two rule modifications for the 2023-24 season, incorporating a second coach’s challenge and a flopping penalty, the league disclosed.
The rule changes were approved by the board of governors during their annual meeting in Las Vegas, following recommendations made by the NBA’s competition committee, which comprises players, team owners, union representatives, coaches, executives, and referees.
Under the new flopping rule, a player who commits the infraction or engages in a “physical act that reasonably appears to be intended to cause officials to call a foul on another player” will be charged with a “non-unsportsmanlike technical foul.”
The opposing team will be granted one free throw attempt, which can be taken by any player who was on the court at the time of the foul. However, players will not be ejected from the game due to flopping violations.
Referees will not be required to stop live play in order to call flopping violations. They will be allowed to call both a foul and a flopping penalty simultaneously during a play. While flopping violations cannot be directly reviewed by a coach’s challenge, referees can implement the penalty following a replay review triggered by a challenge or referee-called replay review due to a called foul.
The league has also adjusted the fine system for flopping, with fines starting at $2,000 and increasing for repeat offenders. The in-game flopping penalty will be implemented on a trial basis in the 2023-24 season.
In terms of the coach’s challenge rule modification, coaches will now receive a second challenge if their first is successful. The rule regarding timeouts will remain the same, with teams retaining their timeout if their first challenge is successful, and losing it if the challenge fails.
Teams will also need to use a timeout to trigger a second challenge, but regardless of the outcome of the second challenge, the timeout will be lost due to considerations of game length and flow.
NBA 2K24 Summer League play will continue in Las Vegas until Monday, with training camps scheduled to open in late September. The regular season is set to begin on October 18.
