Explaining the NBA Rule Changes for 2017-18 Season

The NBA approved a number of rule changes heading into the 2017-18 season.

Here is an explainer of all the rules, what they mean to the viewer and whether the changes will have any tangible effect on how we watch the game.  

Timeout Changes

• Each team will have seven timeouts per game, with no restrictions per half. 
• All team timeouts will be 75 seconds.  In the previous format, “full” timeouts were 90 seconds and “20-second” timeouts were 60 seconds.  Both “full” and “20-second” timeouts have been replaced by team timeouts.
• All four periods will have two mandatory timeouts, which will take place after the first stoppage under the seven- and three-minute marks.
• The under-nine-minute mandatory timeouts in the second and fourth periods will be eliminated.
• Each team can enter the fourth period with up to four team timeouts.
• Each team will be limited to two team timeouts after the later of (i) the three-minute mark of the fourth period or (ii) the resumption of play after the second mandatory timeout of the fourth period.
• Each team will have two team timeouts per overtime period; previously teams had three.

Reasoning: Speed Game Pace

Getting NBA games as close to the two-hour mark as possible has been a major goal of Adam Silver since taking over as commissioner. As the NBA becomes an increasingly global league, Silver has seen the benefit soccer has with that audience with flow and a relatively flat game time.

“I would say, in this case, we’re pretty happy with the length of our game,” Silver told reporters at the league meetings in Las Vegas. “We were more focused here on the pace and flow of the game. What we heard from our fans and heard from many of our teams was that the end of the games, in particular, were too choppy.

“I think since I was a kid, that’s an issue people have been talking about, the last two minutes of our game [...] We think these new changes will have a significant impact, especially at the end of the game.”

Will It Help?

Probably. The changes to the last few minutes of the game were critical. Close games tended to bog down, particularly in the playoffs—the times when the NBA has the most eyeballs on its product. Eliminating 20-second timeouts seems counterintuitive, but those timeouts were almost never 20 seconds of real time. A hard 75 seconds will help television partners and coaches eliminate uncertainties.

Free-Throw Change

• Referees will assess a delay-of-game violation if a free-throw shooter ventures beyond the three-point line between attempts. 

Reasoning: Speed Game Pace

See above.

Will It Help?

Probably not. Not many guys are gallivanting around the floor after a free throw. The farthest they usually go is a step or two beyond the line for a dap. This doesn't seem like something officials will even care enough to enforce; calling the delay of game will probably take more time than the act of stepping behind the line.

Halftime Change

• Halftime will last 15 minutes for all games, beginning immediately upon expiration of the second period.  A delay-of-game penalty will be issued if a team is not ready to start play at the expiration of the halftime clock.

Reasoning: Speed Game Pace

See above.

Will It Help?

Maybe a little. This is more of a hardening of an existing rule. NBA halftimes were already slated for 15 minutes in the rulebook. There was some fudging of time, and no one usually cared if teams were a minute or two late coming out of the locker room.

That now changes. In the grand scheme of things, it's not going to make all that much of a difference because there weren't teams taking 25-minute halves. This is more about setting a hard-and-fast structure for officials and teams to follow, creating a habit for both sides to stick to the 15-minute rule.

Trade Deadline Change

• The Board of Governors approved moving the trade deadline from the Thursday after the NBA All-Star Game to the Thursday 10 days before the All-Star Game. 

Reasoning: Incentivizing Player Movement, Allowing Teams to "Settle" Their Rosters

From the press release announcing the rule change: "With the new placement of the trade deadline, teams will be able to settle their rosters before the All-Star break and avoid the disruptions that result from players joining new teams just as practices and games are beginning to resume following the All-Star break."

This is true. A majority of NBA players take the weeklong All-Star break to spend time with their families, go on vacation and just take a break from the grind. Trades that transpire during that period leave teams in a state of flux, with new players sometimes having to wait days before getting to know their new teammates and practicing.

The earlier deadline could also incentivize teams to make moves. More teams will be contending in early February and are more likely buyers, which could help the league (a little) with their tanking "problem."

Will It Help?

Maybe a little. It should make the deadline its own event now, rather than being tied to the All-Star Game.

One small concern: The convening of general managers, coaches and players in one place tends to be conducive to player movement. We see it in Vegas every summer, and the deadline has allowed the NBA to stay on the radar during their extended All-Star break.

We'll have to see here.