If you paid close attention to the 2019 Las Vegas Summer League, you may have noticed a new feature during the mid-summer exhibition games: the coach’s challenge. The NBA had been toying with debuting a coach’s challenge in what’s been a wider effort to “get the call right” and to offer increased transparency regarding refereeing. After some experimentation in Las Vegas in 2019 and in the G-League over its last two seasons, the NBA Board of Governors voted to approve the coach’s challenge for NBA implementation in their July 9th meeting.
Byron Spruell, the NBA’s President of League Operations, made the following comments on the rule change:
“These initiatives further strengthen our officiating program and help referees make the right call.