This fall, basketball curmudgeons purists could have a whole new reason to complain about the modern NBA.
As 3-point attempts have steadily risen over the past decade (from an average of 22.4 per game in 2014-15 to a record 37.6 last season), so too have fouls on 3-point shots — arguably the most groan-inducing play on a basketball court. The fouls are horrible for defenses because they lead to three free throws, the highest points-per-possession play in basketball.
This fact has also led to shooters consistently making their best attempts to grift referees into calling fouls by contorting their bodies like a circus performer while grunting and hollering as if they’ve just been clubbed in the ribs by a two-by-four. It’s generally not a pleasant experience and often leads to significant disgust from fans and players alike.
Well, get ready for a whole lot more of that.
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One of the points of emphasis for officials entering the 2025-26 season will be the cleverly named “high five” closeouts, which occur when a defender hits the hand, wrist and/or arm of a shooter during his follow-through. As long as the contact occurs after the ball is released, these are supposed to be deemed incidental, with no foul being called. However, according to NBA Senior Vice President of Referee Development and Training Monty McCutchen, there will be a slight tweak to the way things are officiated this season.
The change regards what McCutchen calls “secondary contact,” where a defender doesn’t just incidentally touch the shooter’s hand, but instead makes a deliberate swipe. It’s much easier to comprehend when you watch it, so here’s an example given by the league.
Orlando Magic forward Tristan da Silva attempts a corner 3, and Sacramento Kings big man Isaac Jones hits his arm pretty significantly as he makes his contest. No foul was called on the play, but that will change this year.
“Jones makes a secondary motion after the initial contest by swiping through the hand of the shooter after the ball is released,” McCutchen explains. “This is illegal contact by Jones, and a defensive foul will be called this season on this type of contact.”
By contrast, here’s an example of a play that will remain a no-call. This is a more traditional “high five” where Denver Nuggets big man Zeke Nnaji makes contact with the hand of Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin on his follow-through.
“[Nnaji] makes legal, incidental contact to the hand of the shooter, [Mathurin], after the ball has been released on the 3-point field goal attempt,” McCutchen explains. “Nnaji makes a competitive play at the point of release. He does not commit any secondary movements, and the contact to the shooter’s hand is incidental. Again, this is a legal play, and no foul should be called on a play such as this.”
The key here is the “secondary motion,” which takes a contest from incidental contact to a shooting foul. That’s going to be hard to officiate in real time without the benefit of replay, so officials may choose to err on the side of calling a foul — particularly early in the season — since this is a point of emphasis. That could lead to a lot more fouls on 3-point shots and a lot more free throws. Swoon!
There is also a possibility that some of these secondary motions will be deemed excessive and/or unnecessary, thus leading to a flagrant foul. You don’t often see this called, but at times last season, offensive players complained that defenders were taking advantage of the “high five” rule and intentionally smacking the hands of shooters in an attempt to inflict damage. This reached a nadir during the postseason, when then-Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks was accused of — and didn’t deny — targeting the injured thumb of Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry.
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“The rule in the NBA is that once the shot is released, you’re allowed to hit the guy’s arm,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said as the controversy boiled over in May. “So what’s happened in the league this year is players are always going to outsmart the rules. They know what they’re doing. So players all over the league are taking shots at guys’ shooting hands after release, because they know it’s not going to be a foul.
“I’m very confident that next year the league will fix it, because it’s only a matter of time before somebody breaks a thumb or hand. But these are the rules. … It’s been happening across the league all year long, and it’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard but we have to take it through the league process to get that changed.”
Lo and behold, Kerr’s prognostication came to fruition. And guess who the league used in its example video of a play that will now be deemed a flagrant foul? That’s right, Dillon Brooks. What an astonishing coincidence.
“The defensive player, [Brooks], makes obvious illegal contact to the arm of the shooter, Brandon Miller, after the ball is released on the shot attempt,” McCutchen explains. “We can see the secondary movement by Brooks as he swings his arm at Miller’s arm. And we can also see that there is a windup, impact and follow-through with the swipe, and that the contact can clearly be defined as unnecessary. This type of contact on a secondary motion by a defender contesting a shot is illegal, and a flagrant foul can and may be called on this type of play.”
Here’s the full video from NBA officials regarding “high five” closeouts.
Clearly, the referees looked back at these types of plays from last season and found some truth to Kerr’s observations. The NBA is a superstar league, and the last thing it wants is for one of them to get injured while in a vulnerable position during a jump shot. The downside in the short term, however, is that we may see more fouls and more free throws as defenders adjust to the new rules.