NBA Testing Coaches Challenge System

A coaches challenge system could be coming to the NBA, according to reports. The league has considered implementing a coaches challenge system for a number of years. It could be getting closer now. Officials will test a coaches challenge system on referees calls during this summer’s’ Las Vegas Summer League.

NBA officials are trying to determine exactly how coaches will trigger a challenge on a call by the referee. Sources said that they will not use a flag, but the other parameters are unclear. The NFL and MLB both have a system for coaches to challenge in-game calls.

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NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe spoke about the issue on Sunday on SiriusXM NBA Radio. He said the NBA hopes to experiment during this year’s summer tournaments.

“The competition committee has been trying to figure out how we actually do this, because there’s some complications. It’s not quite as simple as you might imagine. We’ve had it in the G League for a number of years now and it’s been very effective. We’re going to try it in a very limited form in Summer League and we’re going to see how it goes. We’re going to let everybody look at it.”

Over the years, the league has used the summer league and the G league to test out rule chances. Recent tests have tried to adjust goaltending rules and the expansion of officiating crews.

Over the last decade, the use of instant replay has increased in the NBA. The league has slowly added to the types of plays that can be reviewed on the monitor.

However, it is unlikely that these trials will lead to any changes to the NBA format for next season. VanDeWeghe said that this was unlikely, regardless of how the testing goes in Vegas.