NBA Announces New “Hack-A-Shaq” Rules For Next Season

For inbound plays, intentional fouls by the defensive team before the inbounder passes the ball will be r the same as any away-from-the-play foul.

The NBA extended the reach of its special Hack-a-Shaq rule.

In February, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told USA Today’s NBA A to Z podcast (via USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt) that the Association would make changes to the rulebook since intentional fouling strategies against certain big men were depriving the game of a particular aesthetic quality.

Kiki VanDeWeghe, NBA executive vice president of basketball operations, essentially acknowledged the NBA Competition Committee reached a split-the-baby recommendation when he said via statement that the league viewed this reform plan as “the most measured approach…to curb the increase in such fouls without eliminating the strategy entirely”.

And flagrant foul rules will automatically be in effect for any risky or excessive deliberate fouls.

In December, Clippers guard J.J. Redick jumped on Drummond’s back to draw the intentional foul call and send Drummond to the free-throw line. “Organic hacking” in this case occurs when a team happens to get into the bonus and there happens to be a bad free throw shooter on the floor.

“We had a discussion about so-called “Hack-a-Shaq”. Now the rule will be applied in the last two minutes of all four quarters, not just at the end of games. The new rule extends to the final two meetings of each quarter and all overtime periods. The majority of these fouls are targeted at three players – Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan, and Andre Drummond – but total instances were way up in 2015-16.

“O”™Neal was the subject of countless intentional fouls away from the ball when he played for the Los Angeles Lakers.

With the exception of Whiteside and his unusual substitutions for Amar’e Stoudemire, it looks like while second and fourth quarters are still question marks for Hack-a-Shaq going forward, these starting centers should be off the floor by the time the bonus situation normally starts in the third quarter. Silver’s rule change is an attempt to take a significant chunk of the game away from coaches who would employ the strategy – but it’s actually a pretty simple matter for any coach to just take that time back by fouling more, sooner.