Starting next season, you’ll see a lot fewer take fouls in the NBA.
The NBA Board of Governors has established a new “transition take foul” rule, effective beginning in the 2022-23 season, to cut down on teams fouling to stop a fast break.
The new rule defines the take foul as “a foul in which the defender does not make a play on the ball to stop a transition scoring opportunity (which exists when, following a change in possession, the offensive team is continuously advancing the ball while it has an advantage based on the speed of the play, the position of the defenders or both).”
Under the new rule, if a defensive team commits a take foul, the offensive team will get one free throw and the ball. The offensive team can pick any player on the court to shoot the free throw.
However, teams may commit a take foul with no penalty in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime.
“This exception will allow the defensive team to use the longstanding tactic of taking a foul to stop the clock during an attempted comeback or prevent the opposing team from potentially tying the game with a 3-pointer,” per the NBA.
Under Quin Snyder, the Utah Jazz often employed the take foul strategy during opponents’ fast breaks.
The NBA also made the play-in tournament permanent.
“The teams that finish the regular season with the seventh-highest through the 10th-highest winning percentages in each conference will compete to fill the seventh and eighth plavoff seeds in each conference,” per the league.