NEW YORK—NBA team owners approved rule changes on Tuesday creating an in-game flopping penalty and expanded coach’s video replay challenge starting next season, the league announced.
The NBA’s Competition Committee—which includes players, coaches, referees, club owners, team executives and representatives from the National Basketball Players Association—unanimously recommended both changes to the full board of team owners.
The new flopping rule, adopted on a one-season trial basis, says that when a game official calls a player for a flop—a motion deliberately trying to entice a referee foul call on another player—an offending player will be issued a technical foul and the opposing team will be awarded one free throw attempt.
A player will not be ejected from a game based on flopping violations.
Referees will not be required to stop play to call a flopping violation, allowing teams with an offensive opportunity to keep going until the game’s next natural stoppage.
Referees can call both a foul and a flopping violation on the same play.
While flopping violations are not reviewable under a coach’s challenge, they can be called during a referee’s replay review triggered by a coach’s challenge or a referee-initiated replay review of certain types of called fouls.
The NBA will continue to look at flopping after games, with fines modified to match technical fouls, starting at $2,000 and increasing for repeat offenders.
The coach’s challenge change gives teams a second challenge if their first challenge is successful.
Teams must continue to use a timeout to trigger a challenge. They would not be able to challenge without a timeout available.
Teams can continue to keep the timeout after a first challenge if successful but will not retain the timeout used for a second challenge whether or not it is successful.
