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NBA adding coaches’ challenges for 2019-20 season [report]

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© Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports


The time has finally come. NBA head coaches, much like their NFL counterparts, will get the chance to challenge plays on the court as they happen. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Shams Charania of The Athletic, the NBA’s Board of Governor’s approved the ability for coaches to challenge plays on the court. However, they won’t be getting those snazzy red challenge flags like the NFL has, according to Charania.

The changes will allow coaches to challenge personal foul calls, out-of-bounds violations and goaltending and basket-interference violations. As of yet, there is no word on how many challenges each team will get, nor whether there is a restriction on when the challenges can be made, but the change has been adopted only on a trial basis for the 2019-20 season.

In addition to the challenges, the Board of Governors also approved the NBA’s replay center to trigger instant replay, as opposed to on-court referees, something that’s similar to the recent implementation of the video assistant referee in soccer. The replay center will be able to do this to check 2- or 3-point field goals and determine whether a shot was made before or after the shot clock expired, according to Wojnarowski.

Below is the official text of the changes, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press: