NBA governors approve in-game flopping penalty, expand coach's challenge

The NBA Board of Governors approved anin-game flopping penalty and expanded use of the coach’s challenge,the league announced today.

Both rule changes will be implementedbeginning with the 2023-24 NBA season. Here are more details abouteach rule change:

In-Game FloppingPenalty

Under the new rule, when a gameofficial calls a flop – or a physical act that reasonably appearsto be intended to cause the officials to call a foul on anotherplayer – the offending player will be charged with anon-unsportsmanlike technical foul and the opposing team will beawarded one free throw attempt, which could be attempted by anyplayer who is in the game when the technical foul isassessed. A player will not be ejected from a game based onflopping violations.

Referees will not be required to stoplive play to call a flopping violation. If necessary (forexample, to avoid stopping live play while the offensive team hasan immediate scoring opportunity), the officials will wait untilthe next neutral opportunity to stop live play to administer theflopping penalty. After the penalty free throw, the league’sresumption of play principles will apply, meaning that the teamwith actual or imminent possession when play was stopped will beawarded possession when play resumes.

It is possible that the officialscould call both a foul and a flopping violation on the sameplay.

A flopping violation will not bedirectly reviewable by a Coach’s Challenge. However, thereferees could call a flop via replay review of a called foultriggered by a Coach’s Challenge or referee-initiated replay reviewof certain types of called fouls (such as a potential flagrantfoul, block-charge call, end-of-period foul or clear-pathfoul).

The league office’s ability to assessflops after a game will remain in place. New for the 2023-24season, the postgame monetary penalty system for flops has beenmodified to replicate that of technical fouls, with fines startingat $2,000 and increasing incrementally for repeat offenders.

Aflopping violation called bythe officials in real time will not result in a fine or counttoward the postgame financial penalty system. When a flop iscalled by the referees, the lone penalty will be the in-gamecompetitive penalty of the opposing team being awarded one freethrow attempt.

The new in-game flopping penalty willbe in effect on a one-year trial basis.

Expanded Use of Coach’sChallenge

The coach’s challenge has beenexpanded to award teams a second challenge if their first challengeis successful.

A team must continue to use a timeoutto trigger a challenge, which means a team will not be able to useits first or second challenge unless it still has a timeoutavailable.

In addition, a team will continue toretain the timeout used to initiate its first challenge if thechallenge is successful and did not trigger a mandatorytimeout. For game length and game flow reasons, a team willnot retain the timeout used to initiate its second challenge evenif the challenge is successful.

The NBA’s Competition Committee –which consists of players, representatives from the NationalBasketball Players Association, coaches, governors, team basketballexecutives and referees – unanimously recommended both the in-gameflopping penalty and expanded use of the coach’s challenge to theBoard of Governors.