Summer League games will feature a couple of new wrinkles in 2023.
The NBA will test out two proposed rule changes -- an in-game flopping penalty and a second coach's challenge -- during all summer league games, the league announced on Tuesday.
For the flopping rule, officials have the ability to penalize a player with a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul for flopping, the NBA explains. An official does not have to halt play to call the technical and can do so at the next neutral opportunity.
The league initially said a flopping technical would result in one free throw and possession of the ball for the opposing team, but later altered the rule to just a free throw.
The technical doesn't count toward a player's personal foul total or lead to an ejection.
The coach's challenge proposal would see a team retain its challenge should its first attempt be successful. Currently, teams are limited to one challenge and lose a timeout if it's unsuccessful.
NBA
If the second challenge is successful, however, a team would not retain its timeout due to "game flow reasons."
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The NBA's board of governors will vote on whether to approve the rule changes, which would go into effect this upcoming season, on July 11, The Athletic's Shams Charania recently reported. It's unclear what the likelihood is of either getting passed.
This isn't the NBA's first attempt to curb flopping. In 2012, the league introduced an anti-flopping policy that saw players first receive a warning from the NBA for flopping followed by a fine that would increase for each subsequent offense. After 24 violations in the 2012-13 season, the league hasn't enforced the rule nearly as much in recent years.
But the NBA's flopping issue came under the spotlight once again in the 2023 playoffs. During the first round, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr accused the Lakers of gamesmanship and recommended the league introduce a flopping rule similar to FIBA's.
"I think, to me, what I’ve learned coaching in FIBA ... There’s a flop rule," Kerr said. "If a referee deems a player has flopped, they just call it a technical foul, and it’s pretty penalizing. And so the flopping has basically been eliminated from FIBA, and we have the ability to do the same thing in the NBA if we want.
"I think we should address it, because the players are so smart, and the entire regular season is about gamesmanship and trying to fool the refs. And this is how it’s been for a while, and it’s up to us as a league. Do we want to fix this? ... These are all things that are my personal plea to the NBA. I think we can do better in terms of cleaning up the flopping. In the meantime, I give the Lakers credit for the plays that they’ve been able to sell."
It looks like Kerr might soon get his wish.
