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NBA Board of Governors Approves Coach's Challenges for 2019-20 Season
The NBA Board of Governors have approved the implementation of in-game challenge flags for head coaches next season, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported on Tuesday.
The league passed the measure after informing teams last month that coaches may be able to challenge a personal foul charged to their team, a called out-of-bounds violation, a goaltending violation or a basket-interference violation. NBA Basketball Operations President Byron Spruell previously told teams in a memo that the rule will be in effect during the 2019-20 season as a one-year pilot program.
Unlike the NFL, the NBA challenges will not include physical flags. Coaches must instead call timeout and "immediately signal for a challenge by twirling his/her index finger toward the referees," last month's memo said, per the Associated Press.
In addition to coaches being able to challenge calls, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Board of Governors also approved giving the NBA replay center the ability to trigger instant replays for certain circumstances. Those reportedly include determining whether a field goal was worth two or three points and if a player got a shot off before the clock expired.
The NBA currently has a call-challenge system in place in the G League. The program will also be used during Summer League games this season.
