The NBA has already made one high-profile rule change this season to disallow players from leaning into defenders and relying on non-basketball moves to draw foul calls. After two weeks of games, another oft-called foul could be on the way out.
The league's Competition Committee reportedly met Tuesday to discuss the uptick in "take" transition fouls, and explored ways to eliminate incentive to utilize the tactic with a rule change, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. This applies to instances in which defensive players attempt to stop a fast break by making deliberate physical contact with the intent to draw a foul and halt play.
The NBA informed teams the Competition Committee—which consists of a select group of owners, general managers, coaches, players and referees—was "unanimously supportive" of the league's new policing of non-basketball moves, per Charania. Among other issues discussed include the use of the new Wilson basketballs.
Further scrutiny was placed on the NBA's rule change to not call fouls on non-basketball moves by players meant to initiate contact when Nets star James Harden asserted he was the "poster boy" for the change last week.
"It's still basketball at the end of the day," Harden said. "No matter how much of a big deal we try to make it a foul is a foul. It's pretty simple."
Harden led the league in free throw attempts for six straight seasons from 2014-20, averaging over 10 attempts per game in a year. He averaged just 7.3 free throw attempts per game last season, largely a result of his downtick in shot attempts from sharing the floor with Kevin Durant. Through seven games this year, he's averaging a mere 5.3 free throw attempts per game, his fewest since 2010-11.
