Referees will more consistently call offensive fouls on players who use their off arm to create separation from defenders<\/strong> before perimeter shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James Jones, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations, outlined the changes as part of four categories the league considers \u201chigh-volume and highly impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To determine whether contact on a push-off constitutes an offensive foul, officials will use the \u201cFour F\u2019s\u201d<\/strong> framework: feeling, firming, force and full extension<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ball handlers will still be allowed to \u201cfeel\u201d a defender<\/strong> with their arm or \u201cfirm up\u201d<\/strong> as they gather in front of an opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An offensive foul should be called when the off arm is used with force or full extension<\/strong> to create an advantage and generate additional separation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to make sure the defensive side of the ball does not get penalized by allowing illegal acts by the offensive player. I think we can do a better job.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n NBA senior vice president of referee development and training Monty McCutchen<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new emphasis comes as scoring continues to rise across the NBA. Teams averaged 115.6 points per game last season<\/strong>, the league’s highest mark since 1969-70.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The NBA has also targeted other offensive tactics in recent years, including players stopping short to draw collisions and leg-splaying<\/strong> on jump shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The league released video examples Tuesday showing plays that would now be called offensive fouls under the new guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among them were a push by Jaylen Brown against Kelly Oubre Jr. while setting a screen<\/strong> and a forceful arm extension by RJ Barrett<\/strong> that knocked Evan Mobley<\/strong> off balance in the paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McCutchen acknowledged that distinguishing between \u201cfirming up\u201d and using \u201cforce\u201d will be challenging for officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s going to be some [contact] that you would consider \u2018firming up\u2019 and I would consider \u2018with force\u2019 and illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The NBA will therefore meet with the Competition Committee<\/strong> more frequently at the beginning of the season to receive feedback on plays that fall close to the line between legal and illegal contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials will also pay closer attention to illegal screens by offensive players<\/strong> and defensive actions away from the ball, including grabbing and holding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The league also highlighted \u201cstraight-line pathway plays,\u201d<\/strong> in which both offensive and defensive players moving toward the basket retain the right to their direct path. A foul can be called if either player deviates from that path to bump the opponent off course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source: Ben Golliver\/ESPN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The NBA has announced new officiating points of emphasis for the upcoming season, focusing on offensive contact, illegal screens and off-ball holding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":536003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[399],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-536005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/09\/Logo-NBA.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":536006,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536005\/revisions\/536006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536005"},{"taxonomy":"rumors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rumors?post=536005"},{"taxonomy":"typology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/typology?post=536005"},{"taxonomy":"posizionamento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posizionamento?post=536005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}When does a push-off become an offensive foul?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
The change comes amid an offensive surge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Jaylen Brown and RJ Barrett among NBA examples<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
More attention on illegal screens and off-ball contact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n