Three NBA rule changes I would like to see next season (2024)

Every year during the offseason, the NBA Board of Governors huddles together to discuss potential rule changes and ways to improve the game. Changes can range from small, like redefining a “take foul”, to large, such as adding the Play-in, In-season Tournament, and Coach’s Challenge. There’s always something that could use tweaking, so here are a few changes I would like to see heading into next season.

Set a time limit on video review

Today, video review has become a prominent part of almost all of sports. It’s mostly for the better as it helps referees’ reverse mistakes that everyone else can see on video boards and broadcasts. At first, the NBA only allowed video review in the last two minutes and in limited scenarios that did not include fouls, but the introduction of the Coach’s Challenge, where coaches have up to two chances to send any call to video review, has allowed even more leeway to overturn egregious calls at any point in the game.

That being said, if there’s a downside to video review, it’s that it can take far too long. Sometimes viewers already know the answer before the refs even get to the monitors, but even then we have to wait for the officials to go through all the angles and formalities. That takes long enough for easy calls, but when it comes to borderline or hard-to-determine calls, it can take seemingly forever.

There are several possible ways to speed things up. One is have a designated video review official in the arena (and it doesn’t have to be a fourth ref, just someone at the scorer’s table) or let someone in the Replay Center in Secaucus handle it and buzz back to the refs to reduce the amount of time it takes just to get over there and set up. They could see all the angles a lot quicker than on the one screen the refs have to work with. If the league wants to keep it in the refs’ hands, set a time limit on video review. If two minutes, for example, is not enough time to make a determination, then it’s too close to call, the original call stands, and we move on.

The Replay Center reviews/updates uncalled goaltends

One issue with the Coach’s Challenge is they cannot challenge something that is not called, and goaltending — offensive or defensive — may be the biggest issue with this rule as it quite literally alters the score of the game. The solution? Have the refs review any potential goaltends, called or not, at the next dead ball, or similar to how borderline threes are handled, have Secaucus review and just update the score with an arena announcement when it’s resolved.

It’s probably the simplest fix there is, and considering real-time score updates is something that already happens with three-pointers, why can’t it happen with goaltending? If an offensive goaltending is missed, remove the points and make an announcement. If a defensive goaltending is missed, add the points. Simple as that. I would even go as far as to say wrong goaltending calls can be updated even without a challenge because, again, these are actual points that were scored (or not), same as a three-pointer.

Redefine what a shooting foul is for a stationary shooter

Back in January, I did a whole spiel on how the NBA needs to empower its defenses more. To make a long story short, the game had become too one-sided, too many points with little defense allowed was becoming unappealing, and teams were getting too many free throws in large part due to foul bating (i.e. creating contract to draw a foul and/or jacking up unmakeable shots to get free-throws). It’s as if we had officially reached the opposite tipping point of the “boring Spurs” era, and too much scoring was the new boring.

After a defense-optional All-Star game that had Adam Silver visibly frustrated with the effort level and one-sided nature of the game, there seemed to be a notable drop in foul calls (or at least a rise in contact allowed), and the NBA confirmed it told the referees to watch for players making unnatural motions or moving away from the path to the basket to create contact.

While this is meant to address foul baiting from players on the move, I would also consider changing when a shooting foul occurs for a stationary shooter. As things currently stand, a shooting foul begins when the ball is gathered and the player has started his upward motion. The problem is, players who are standing stationary can wait for a defender to bite on a pump fake and jump, and the shooter then waits to draw the contact before going into a pretend shooting motion or jacking up a shot that has no chance of going in just to get free throws.

While this could be called strategy, and you could argue defenders simply shouldn’t fall for pump fakes, it’s still foul bating. To fix this, I say if a shooter has not started his upward shooting motion when the defender leaves the floor, it’s not a shooting foul but rather a common foul. Shooters shouldn’t be allowed to wait for contact before going into a shooting motion just to get free throws without ever shooting the ball or just jacking up an unmakeable shot to make sure they get them. It’s a small change but one that could help the league in its increased effort to eliminate foul baiting.

What do you think, Pounders? Are there any new rules or changes you would like to see the NBA implement? Feel free to discuss in the comments below.