NBA referees huddle during a regular season game last season.

The 2026-27 NBA season brings new points of emphasis for players, coaches and referees.

The main areas of focus were announced last week.

Stop with the flop and those “exaggerated and theatrical” movements in an attempt to get a call.
Don’t be so forceful with that off-arm against a defender. Offensive and defensive players have the right to freedom of movement. Defenders don’t have the right to knock dribblers off straight-line pathways, but they do have the ability to defend along that line.
Don’t be reckless with closeouts on the shooter.
Stop wasting time before free throws in an attempt to give the bench more time to make decisions. 

“We made some changes in the summer,” NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations James Jones said. “We addressed tanking, which means in the NBA for the first time, we’ll have a season where every team is incentivized to play and compete and try to win every game. And with that comes an increased level of competition, and that increased competition shows up in two ways: It’s how our game is played and how our game presents.

“Through that frame, we decided on points of emphasis that we thought would continue to help us push the game forward and create a really compelling product for our fans, for our teams, and for the competitors – the coaches and players and executives – within our organizations.”

The NBA released videos of the plays and situations it is emphasizing and focusing on this season, and NBA staffers will visit each team, where players and coaches will be shown the videos and have opportunities to ask questions.

Flopping
2026-27 NBA Areas of Focus Video – Part 1

Monty McCutchen (SVP, Head of Referee Development and Training) breaks down the areas of focus for NBA players, coaches and referees this season.

Players are penalized for flopping. If it’s called during a game, the player receives a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul, and the opposing team is awarded a free throw. If a flop is not called in-game, the league can review the play and deliver a warning, then issue fines on an escalating monetary scale and a one-game suspension. There is no warning or financial penalty for a flop violation called during the game.

Still, players try to get away with selling a call and sometimes referees make a call in favor of the offending player, so the league continues to address the issue.

“It’s just something that we’ve seen that doesn’t present well in-game, live or on TV, and it’s not the fabric of NBA competition,” Jones said. “We’re going to take a really hard stance on flopping. It’s something that we’ll look at more so than anything.”

NBA senior vice president and head of referee development and training Monty McCutchen wanted to make a point clear: “A flop is not merely trying to entice a call. It has to be secondary, theatrical and exaggerated movement. A lot of these embellishments won’t have that STEM – secondary, theatrical, exaggerated movement – and thus would be legal.”

A head snap in and of itself is not a flop, McCutchen said, offering this explanation: “Head snaps are embellishments. That head snap does not mean that you’re going to get a flopping violation call. […] The competition committee made a strong line that drawing attention to something that is illegal is an embellishment. That’s fine. But creating a perception of something that you know not to be true, that is separate and needs to be penalized.”

Off-arm maneuvers by the offensive player
2026-27 NBA Points of Emphasis Video – Part 1

Monty McCutchen (SVP, Head of Referee Development and Training) breaks down Points of Emphasis for NBA players, coaches and referees this season.

One thing is clear when listening to Jones and McCutchen: the league is constantly monitoring how the game is played and called, and “What we started to see was an increase in off-arm push offs to create space for offensive players.” Jones said. “It’s already tough to defend, but to defend in space as well as being pushed off or having offensive players be able to use that as a tool, we just thought that wasn’t good and we didn’t want it in our game.”

Examples are in the videos, but in general, the league doesn’t want offensive players to use that off arm to create separation and space. There is some leeway, a fine line in which the player can use his off arm against the defender as the player with the ball uses his off arm to firm up or feel for the defender.

“Firming and feeling are going to be legal offensive moves. Forcefully pushing off or giving full extension (with the off-arm) are illegal,” McCutchen said, adding, “The competition committee made it very clear they wanted talented players to continue to be able to create separation to some degree.

“Reasonable people who have been part of our stakeholder groups could look at a play, and some say that’s forceful and some people say that’s firming up. But if we eliminate and get more consistent with a large portion of these and we narrow down our disagreement to the demarcation line, I think we’ll be better and the league will be better for this effort.”

Watching for two-handed screens

McCutchen said there are more than 200 screens in an NBA game. The league wants to curtail the two-handed screens. “Within the human tolerances of what we want out of play, this is an area we need to clean up,” he said. “We need to get more consistent with pushing toward mid-court or pushing toward the sideline to create various forms of advantages by offensive players. In some instances, it will create an advantage for the dribbler. In others, it will create an advantage for a pocket pass, which leads to advantageous positions on the floor.

We’re going to get really strong on these plays this year. If not, we’re going to hold the referees accountable accordingly.”

Straight-line pathways, freedom of movement and closeouts
2026-27 NBA Points of Emphasis Video – Part 2

Monty McCutchen (SVP, Head of Referee Development and Training) breaks down more Points of Emphasis for NBA players, coaches and referees this season.

These three areas have long been a focus of the league and continue to remain high on the list of in-game priorities, keeping in mind the defender is entitled to straight-line space and allowed freedom of movement.

“Balance for us is always allowing good defense and good offense to compete and collide,” Jones said. “We’re not trying to balance it or tip the scales in either direction. We’re just trying to make sure that the extremes – the edges where people start to try to take advantage of the rules – we hold firm and that we educate.”

The league will pay close attention to closeouts that have the potential to injure the shooter, and the shooter can fall to the floor in a sitting motion if he feels he’s protecting himself on a closeout. That is not considered a flop.

Lining up for Free Throws
2026-27 NBA Areas of Focus Video – Part 2

Monty McCutchen (SVP, Head of Referee Development and Training) breaks down more Areas of Focus for NBA players, coaches and referees this season.

As part of game administration by the refs, the league wants to maintain a reasonable flow of the game from start to finish.

Scenario: A referee calls a shooting foul and the team on defense believes it might not be a foul, so the head coach contemplates challenging the call as he waits for a bench assistant equipped with a tablet to review the play and let the coach know if he should challenge.

Players – ever seeking what advantage they can find – on defense have tried to give their bench more time to make a decision by stalling and not taking their positions in the rebounding lane spots along the key. The video shows players routinely changing spots and switching with players above the 3-point line.

“Referees will be instructed to administer all free throws in a timely and orderly fashion, and players are expected to take their position without unnecessary delays. Delay of game violations will be assessed by the officials as needed,” McCutchen said in a video.

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Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at jzillgitt@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.