NBA Announces Emirates NBA Cup & Coach’s Challenge Changes

Since the Emirates NBA Cup has been in existence, both the semifinals and finals have been played on a neutral court in Las Vegas. But that will change starting in the 2026-27 season as the semifinals will now be played on the home court of the higher-seeded team. The championship game will remain in Las Vegas, but the semis will now feature a home-court advantage for whoever was better throughout the tournament.

The change in Coach’s Challenge process will begin this season, however, though it has more to do with a specific process than anything else. Last season, when reviewing out-of-bounds challenges, the league allowed officials to decide whether a proximate foul should have been called on the play. But this often led to extremely long reviews as referees had to determine who the ball was out on, as well as whether there was a foul committed.

But beginning this season, the Replay Center official will be determining whether a foul should be called, instead of the on-court referee at the game. By doing this, the goal is to expedite the review process and shorten review times, getting the game back on the court as quickly as possible after properly reviewing the play.

NBA to change rules so end-of-quarter heaves won’t count against player stats

Another rule change that is set to be implemented this coming season is a statistical one. It is being reported that unsuccessful end-of-quarter heaves will no longer count towards individual stats and will instead be marked as a missed shot for the team.

This was something that the NBA tested out during Summer League and should lead to an increased willingness of players putting up those shots to end quarters as often times they would purposely wait until just after the clock expired in order to not harm their individual field goal percentage.