THE NBA WILL ALLOW COACHES TO CHALLENGE ONE PLAY A GAME NEXT SEASON

By Terqirez | LeagueAlerts Writer

The NBA notified teams on Friday that pending approval by the Board of Governors on July 9th teams will allow coaches to challenge one personal foul committed by their team, an out of bounds violation committed by their team, or a goaltending violation committed by their team.

Byron Spruell, the president of basketball operations told teams in a memo that; “We anticipate this rule will be in effect in the NBA next season as a one-year pilot program.”

The NBA already has a call challenge program in place in the G-League. They also tested it in the summer league last season. It will be used during all three summer leagues this season. Also, the four-team league in Sacramento and Salt Lake City that opens Monday. There will also be another league in Las Vegas that opens July 5th.

HOW IT WILL WORK

In order for teams to challenge the play they will have to call timeout and the coach “must immediately signal for a challenge by twirling his/her index finger toward the referees,” the memo said.

A challenge must come immediately after the play. Challenges of out-of-bounds calls, goaltending, or basket interference will not be permitted in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter or the last two minutes of overtime. If the challenge is unsuccessful, the team will lose its timeout. If the challenge is upheld, no timeout will be charged.