Explaining the NBA Rule Changes for 2020-21 Season

Only 71 days after the end of the 2020 NBA Finals, the 2020-21 NBA season will get underway Tuesday night with a pair of games. The Brooklyn Nets are hosting the Golden State Warriors, then the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Los Angeles Clippers.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, this NBA season will be a bit different than most. To start, the campaign has been shortened to 72 games (rather than the typical 82), and only the first half of the schedule has been announced.

That's not the only change coming to the NBA in 2020-21. Here's a look at everything you need to know heading into the season regarding some notable rule changes.

The Coach's Challenge is Staying

Last season, the NBA introduced the coach's challenge for a one-year trial run. That led to 700 calls being challenged (including the playoffs), 308 of which were then overturned by the officials following replay review.

Now, the coach's challenge is in the NBA to stay. The league's Competition Committee (which includes coaches, general managers and officials) recently voted to keep the coach's challenge in the game and the same rules regarding it intact, which the NBA announced after it was approved by the Board of Governors.

"Our coaches were receptive to the pilot version of the coach’s challenge, increasing usage and becoming more comfortable with the concept and strategic aspects as the season progressed," NBA president of league operations Byron Spruell said in a statement. "We are excited to adopt the coach’s challenge as part of our NBA rules and will continue dialogue with the coaches, the Competition Committee and the NBA’s Board of Governors as we move forward."

The Athletic's Shams Charania reported that although the rules regarding the challenge will "remain status quo," there were some suggestions to either award a second challenge if a coach is successful with their first one or to allow teams to retain a timeout following a successful challenge. Charania added that the league will be "evaluating potential modifications" for the future.

Roster Sizes Increased to 15 Players

The NBA Board of Governors approved a plan allowing teams to expand their roster size from 13 active players to 15. It'll be a way for teams to have enough players should somebody on their roster test positive for COVID-19 at some point during the season.

Teams were allowed to have 15 players on their roster in previous seasons, but only 13 could be active for games. Despite this change, there will still be two additional spots for players on two-way contracts.

Based on other sports leagues that have operated without a bubble (such as the NFL and MLB), there will likely be players who test positive, potentially leading to postponements if there are outbreaks on particular teams. However, if there's only a single case or two on a team, having this larger roster could help the league have more games take place on their scheduled dates.

NBA Relaxing Resting Policies

While teams can still face a fine of at least $100,000 for resting healthy players for a "high-profile, nationally televised game," the NBA is relaxing its resting policy for games that are not nationally televised, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps, per a memo sent to teams earlier this month.

Bontemps reported that the memo stated teams playing back-to-back games will have the flexibility to "rest a key veteran player who played a substantial role on a team that advanced deep into the 2020 Playoffs, or to rest a player who is still returning to full strength after recovering from COVID-19."

It makes sense that the NBA wouldn't enforce this policy quite as strictly, considering this offseason was much shorter than usual for many of the league's teams. That's especially the case for the Lakers and Miami Heat, who played the last game of the NBA Finals on Oct. 11.

Eight Teams Will Participate in Play-In Tournament

If you recall the end of the 2019-20 season, the NBA introduced a tweak to the playoff format after each team played only eight seeding games in the bubble before the start of the postseason. The Portland Trail Blazers, who were the No. 8 seed, defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, the No. 9 seed, in a Western Conference play-in game. There would have been a second game in the series had Memphis won, because it was the lower seed and needed to win twice.

In 2020-21, the NBA is expanding this idea. The Nos. 7-10 seeds in each conference will participate in a play-in tournament to begin the postseason. The No. 7 seed will play the No. 8 seed with the winner advancing. The No. 9 seed will play the No. 10 seed with the loser getting eliminated. Then, the loser of the No. 7/No. 8 game will face the winner of the No. 9/No. 10 game with the winner of that game also advancing.

Nothing will change for the top six seeds from each conference, so there will be a greater importance to finish in those spots to avoid having to play in this tournament. It will also give more teams an opportunity to have realistic playoff aspirations.