PBA four-point line, meet NBA Summer League’s one free-throw rule.
This year’s NBA Summer League will feature an interesting, if not outright quirky, rule change. For the first 46 minutes of every game, players will be awarded only one free throw—even if they’re supposed to get two or three under standard rules.
Confused? Good. Read on.
How Does This NBA Summer League Rule Work?
To explain this rule better, consider this scenario: Suppose a player, say AJ Dybantsa, is fouled taking a three. Under standard rules, he’ll be awarded three free throws. Under this new rule, he will only be taking one free throw worth—you guessed it!—three points. If that player makes that one solitary freebie, he and his team get the three points; if he misses, they get nothing. Not one point. Not two points. NOTHING.
Here is another scenario: Suppose a player, say Darryn Peterson, is fouled and the other team is in penalty. Instead of shooting the standard two freebies, the player will only shoot one free throw worth two points. Again, make it and score two points. Miss it and get nothing.
This rule change, though, will only be in effect in the first 46 minutes of games. In the last two minutes and overtime, standard free-throw rules will be used.
Quirky Rule Isn’t New
It should be noted that while this quirky rule is an “innovation” for this year’s NBA Summer League, it isn’t entirely new per se. That’s because the NBA has been implementing it in the G League since the 2019–20 season. The rule was implemented in the hopes of improving game flow and accelerating the pace even more.
Notably, the NBA uses the G League as a testing ground for potential rule changes, pacing adjustments, and officiating technologies. The way things typically work is that the NBA tries something out in the G League and adopts it in the Summer League if favorable results are obtained. The change will then be elevated to the NBA Board of Governors’ approval before it can make its way to the big league.
The coach’s challenge, for instance, was heavily tested and refined in the G League before it eventually graduated to the NBA for the 2019–20 season. Resetting the shot clock to 14 seconds instead of 24 after an offensive rebound was also vetted in the G League first before making it to the NBA.
As for this one free-throw thing the NBA is trying out in this year’s NBA Summer League—let’s just say it’s a bit too radical to see the light of day in the world’s premier basketball league.
