NBA Approves Coach's Challenge Rule Change Ahead of 2025-26 Regular Season

The NBA Board of Governors approved a rule change for the 2025-26 season with the hopes of speeding up the coach's challenge process.

Per Andrew Greif of NBC News, the announcement said that "during review following a coach's challenge of an out-of-bounds violation, the replay center official, instead of the on-court crew chief, will determine whether a proximate foul should have been called."

Last season, on-court crew chiefs would decide whether a proximate foul should have been called even if the challenge was just for an out-of-bounds violation.

Prior to the Board of Governors' approval, the NBA Competition Committee and the league office unanimously recommended this change.

This wasn't the only rule change the NBA announced Wednesday.

Greif noted the league also revealed the NBA Cup semifinals games starting in the 2026-27 season will be home games for the higher-seeded team in each conference. In years past and the upcoming season, the semifinals and final were scheduled to be played at a neutral site.

The semifinals and final of the 2025-26 NBA Cup will be played in Las Vegas regardless of which teams advance that far.

What's more, ESPN's Shams Charania noted the NBA announced unsuccessful heaves in the final seconds of quarters will count as missed field-goal attempts for the team only and not the individual player.

Frequently, players would wait until the buzzer sounded to shoot heave shots from beyond half court because they didn't want their individual field-goal and three-point percentage numbers to decrease with shots that had a minuscule chance of falling.

In theory, this rule change will lead to more attempts from players as the clock is expiring.

That will likely have more of an impact on the on-court developments during games than the rule change regarding coach challenges, but the latter could streamline the overall review process and lead to fewer delays in key moments.