NBA keeps coach’s challenge permanently

The coach’s challenge was approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors on a full-time basis starting with the 2020-21 season, the league announced on Thursday. The coach’s challenge was introduced this past season on a one-year trial.

The Board also approved language to clarify two specific situations:

1. A team loses its right to challenge the preceding call if it incurs a delay of game violation prior to initiating the challenge.

2. When officials confer to determine the appropriate call, the window of time within which a team must “immediately” challenge the call starts after the officials provide the negatively affected team notice of the final ruling on the play.

During the 2019-20 season, NBA head coaches challenged 633 calls in the regular season and 67 in the playoffs. The original call on the floor was overturned 281 times in the regular season for an overturn rate of 44 percent. The overturn rate in the postseason was 40 percent, with 27 calls reversed.