NBA expands coach's challenges to include foul calls: Out-of-bounds review scope extended

During the intense Western Conference Finals matchup between Dallas and Minnesota, an out-of-bounds play ignited controversy regarding the NBA's new rules on coach challenges. In a crucial moment, Dallas' Kyrie Irving fouled Minnesota's Jaden McDaniels, leading to McDaniels losing the ball out of bounds. Despite the missed foul by the referees on the court, they called the ball out on Irving. Dallas decided to challenge the ruling, hoping for a reversal in their favor. However, due to the recent change in reviewable calls, the referees were unable to adjust their call to award Irving the foul. The only alteration they could make was to change the call to indicate that the ball did indeed go out off McDaniels. Although the officials later acknowledged their mistake in missing the foul, they were restricted from doing anything further than awarding the ball to Dallas. This turn of events exemplifies the limitations and implications of the NBA's revised review system, emphasizing the importance of strategic challenges and the impact they can have on the outcome of a game.

They gave the ball to Dallas after this while the Wolves were in the bonus. Just gross officiating. https://t.co/pcVUEy7TDw pic.twitter.com/W7YfEcusYg

— MNMuse (@statmusewolves) May 25, 2024

Not anymore, under the expanded use of a coach's challenge announced by the league, the referees could change their call to a foul on the play.

There are three conditions: 1) The foul has to be by a player involved in the out-of-bounds play (not somewhere else on the court); 2) The referees will look at the distance between the foul and the out-of-bounds play; 3) How much time elapsed between the foul and the out-of-bounds play?

The league is working to keep this very specific, but it did come up a few times last season. It's not going to lead to more reviews, as it can only be during a coach's challenge (although those challenges could take longer in these cases).

The rule change was recommended by the NBA's Competition Committee — comprised of players, coaches, owners, team and league basketball executives, and referees — who passed it along to the Board of Governors, who approved it.