The NBA’s First Preseason Game Showed Off One Key Rule Change That Hopefully Won’t Be Going Away

Saturday night brought the return of NBA basketball to our lives as the Raptors battled the Heat in Quebec City. It was the first preseason clash of the 2026–27 season and our first look at Giannis Antetokounmpo in a Miami uniform. It was also what you’d expect from preseason basketball—a rather sloppy affair with everyone going at roughly 75% speed.

Interestingly, the exhbition contest also served as a first look at a rule change we could be seeing a lot of this year. Most fans will hope so, anyway.

In late September, as they do every offseason, the NBA announced the “points of emphasis” for officials entering the new campaign. These points of emphasis serve several purposes, from introducting brand-new rules to clarifying what fans might’ve seen as confusing officiating decisions from the previous year. But most of all they serve as public declarations of what fouls referees will be keeping a particularly close eye out for when the games begin this year.

This year the point of emphasis most relevant to the viewing experience is the off-arm push-off. Many players (particularly those of the big and physical archetype) use their off arms to push defenders away and create space for jump shots. It’s technically a foul but it’s inconsistently called; usually the offensive player has to be very obvious and extend their arm dramatically in the act of pushing off to get whistled for it. The NBA announced its intention to more closely legislate that rule, which will likely result in more fouls of that type called every night.

See below for Part 1 of the 2026-27 Points of Emphasis video (narrated by SVP, Head of Referee Development and Training Monty McCutchen), which provides examples and guidance regarding Off-Arm Push Offs by Offensive Players and Freedom of Movement – Screens: pic.twitter.com/zMMmOK3Kxq
— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) September 29, 2026

The Raptors and Heat needed only a few minutes of game time to learn just how serious the league was about this change. Scottie Barnes was called for an offensive foul due to pushing off within the first two minutes of the first quarter of Toronto’s loss to Miami.

NEXT: NBA Rookie of the Year Rankings 1.0: How a Stacked Class Looks Heading Into Preseason

Scottie Barnes called for a push off which is a point of emphasis for NBA officials this season pic.twitter.com/Gob2waX84h
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) October 3, 2026

La nouvelle règle en NBA appliquée :

Push-off interdit, Scottie Barnes sanctionné ! pic.twitter.com/nqtqpZ4yg6
— TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) October 4, 2026

As you can see, it’s not an egregious shove by Barnes. It certainly would not have been called last season. But if that’s the new standard, we’ll be seeing those fouls a lot. Players of all calibers use their off arm to create space in the way Barnes did above; it’s not limited to the Shai Gilgeous-Alexanders and Jaylen Browns of the world, who mastered the art of pushing off to take a jumpshot in recent seasons.

NBA’s focus on push-offs is a welcome change—as long as it sticks

Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is fond of the off-arm push-off. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While nobody is eager to see more fouls called in basketball games, fans should see this as a positive development.

It’s already hard enough to play defense in the NBA. Scorers aren’t permitted to dislodge their defenders by shoving them in the broad sense, but the subtle way smart scorers have done so with their off arm has been a legal gray area for a while. Cracking down on that helps even the playing field for defenders and cut down on those strange plays where a superstar suddenly gets a wide-open jumper because they muscled the opponent away.

NEXT: One Thought on All 30 NBA Teams Heading Into Preseason

It just has to stick. The refs have to break years of ingrained habits in regards to what’s a foul and what’s not, so the impact of this sort of change tends to vary night-to-night. NBA players are also very smart and dedicated to finding the undefined area between rules that can be manipulated. They will test the limits of when a referee will call a push-off in light of the new emphasis, just as they did when the NBA introduced technical fouls for flopping.

If the league is hoping to entirely eliminate the forceful off-arm push-off (like they successfully eliminated jumping backwards into defenders for fouls a few years back) then refs will have to be quick on the whistle. If they aren’t, the problem of scorers using their off arm to create space will be mitigated—but won’t be gone completely.

Calling the push-off on Barnes is a good sign for those hoping to see that action wiped from the game completely.

Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.

Add us as a preferred source on Google