The NBA Board of Governors met on Tuesday to agree upon two significant league changes.
The first major announcement has been expected for quite some time, as the NBA has officially made the Play-In Tournament a permanent part of the league calendar. Up until now, the addition to the postseason format has been previously greenlighted on a year-by-year basis.
The tournament has left a noticeable impact on the level of regular-season competition. Teams who would have previously been vying for lottery spots have now been given a chance to fight for postseason experience. Not only have we seen this lead to interesting action at the trade deadline, but we’ve also seen it lead to some extremely entertaining elimination games.
As for the second (more surprising) piece of news, the NBA has finally decided to penalize the “take foul.” If a defender tries to stop an opponent’s transition opportunity by not making a play on the ball, the offense will be rewarded one free throw (which any player can shoot) and possession of the ball. The defender who committed the foul will still be assessed a common personal foul.
So what does this really mean? MORE HIGHLIGHTS, BABY!!
For a Bulls team that likes to turn defense into offense and has plenty of high-flyers on the roster, this feels like especially good news. No more stopping Zach LaVine from getting a full head of steam!
Anyway, the NBA provided a bit more information on how refs will be told to judge these take fouls, so make sure to give their official press release a look below: