Under NBA Rule 14, the head coach may challenge a personal foul called on the coach's own team, an out-of-bounds ruling that did not award that team possession, or a called goaltending or basket-interference violation. The team must still have a timeout and must complete the challenge procedure before play is ready to resume.
This page applies the National Basketball Association's 2025–26 Official Playing Rules, chiefly Rule 14, with Rule 13 used for official-triggered replay. It describes NBA preseason, regular-season and playoff games unless Rule 14 states an exception.
It does not state the rules for the WNBA, NBA G League, NBA Summer League, FIBA, NCAA, NFHS or another league. Those competitions can use different challenge entitlements, triggers and procedures.
NBA Rule 14, Section I(c) permits only these three triggers:
A coach cannot directly challenge a missed foul, a personal foul called on the opposing team, continuation by itself, a technical foul, a flagrant foul, or calls such as traveling, carrying, double dribble, flopping, or offensive or defensive three seconds. A possible goaltending or basket-interference non-call is not a challengeable event either.
This does not mean replay must ignore everything else visible. For example, continuation and a proximate different foul can be examined after a valid challenge of a called personal foul. The distinction is between an event that can trigger replay and a matter that becomes reviewable after a valid trigger.
Under Rule 14, Section II, the team normally must call a legal timeout immediately after the disputed call. Before the ball is given to the thrower-in or free-throw shooter, or tossed for a jump ball, the head coach must use the replay signal—twirling an index finger toward the officials—and identify the specific event being challenged during that same interaction.
If a player calls the timeout, the head coach must signal while the official is notifying the scorekeeper. If a mandatory timeout or an opponent's timeout is already underway, the head coach has no more than 30 seconds from the start of that timeout to signal and identify the event. After an officials' conference, the window starts when the negatively affected team is told the final ruling. A delay-of-game before the challenge is initiated ends the opportunity.
For a properly challenged personal foul, Rule 14, Section III(a) lets the on-court crew chief decide whether the foul was correct, whether it was assigned to the correct player—including an opponent—or whether a different foul proximate to it should have been called. The crew chief may also examine continuation, goaltending or basket interference on the play, whether the game or shot clock expired first, a relevant boundary-line or eight-second violation, unsportsmanlike acts or unnecessary contact, and a proximate flopping violation.
“Proximate” is not permission to search the entire possession. The NBA lists the players involved, physical distance and elapsed time as factors connecting an uncalled foul or flop to the challenged foul.
For an out-of-bounds Challenge, the Replay Center Official determines whether the ruling was correct and may correct the relevant game or shot clock, an earlier clock expiry or eight-second violation, and certain unsportsmanlike acts or unnecessary contact. If the out-of-bounds whistle coincided with a made shot, replay may also determine whether the whistle came before or after the shooter began the shooting motion.
Under the rule introduced in 2024–25, replay may determine that an uncalled foul proximate to the out-of-bounds violation should have been called. For 2025–26, the NBA transferred that determination from the on-court crew chief to the Replay Center Official. The same-player, distance and elapsed-time factors limit what counts as proximate.
With more than 2:00 remaining in the fourth quarter or an overtime, a coach may challenge a called goaltending or basket-interference violation. The Replay Center Official decides whether the call was correct and may also review specified boundary-line and eight-second issues when the violation was called before the ball touched the rim, plus unsportsmanlike acts or unnecessary contact.
During the final two minutes of the fourth quarter and the final two minutes of every overtime, the coach loses this trigger. Under NBA Rule 13, the on-court officials may initiate review when they are not reasonably certain whether a called goaltending or basket-interference violation was correct. That review is not automatic, and a possible non-call is not reviewable. This time restriction does not remove the coach's ability to challenge an adverse out-of-bounds ruling.
Under the 2025–26 Rule 14, Section IV, the on-court crew chief makes the final ruling on a challenged personal foul, with Replay Center support. The Replay Center Official makes the final ruling on a challenged out-of-bounds or goaltending/basket-interference event.
There is a venue exception: for preseason or regular-season games played outside an NBA arena, the on-court crew chief decides every Challenge. In all cases, overturning the call—or changing another permitted reviewable matter—requires clear and conclusive visual evidence. Without it, the call stands.
Every team begins with one Challenge and must have a timeout to use it. If the first Challenge overturns the challenged call, the team normally keeps the timeout and earns a second Challenge. If the first Challenge fails, the timeout is lost and no second Challenge is awarded.
If the challenged event immediately precedes the challenging team's mandatory timeout, that team loses the mandatory timeout even after a successful Challenge. It is not charged twice if the Challenge fails.
When the other team's timeout or mandatory timeout is already underway, the first-Challenge result determines which team is ultimately charged: a successful first Challenge leaves the challenging team uncharged; an unsuccessful first Challenge shifts the timeout charge to the challenging team. A second Challenge always charges the challenging team. Attempting to challenge with no timeout produces no review and an excessive-timeout technical foul. Attempting to challenge an ineligible event costs a timeout, but the team retains its Challenge.
Rule 14, Section VI normally resumes play at the point of interruption—the ball's location when the whistle sounded—with the score, foul, possession and clocks adjusted to match the replay ruling.
Two made-shot exceptions prevent the whistle from erasing an otherwise legal basket. If a defensive foul after the shooter began the shooting motion is overturned, the basket counts regardless of when the whistle sounded. Likewise, if the offense successfully challenges an out-of-bounds ruling simultaneous with a made shot and the whistle followed the start of the shooting motion, the basket counts. In either case, the defense receives the ball for the next possession.
Situation: officials award the ball to White with 0:38 left in the fourth quarter. Blue's coach says White touched it last.
NBA 2025–26 ruling: Blue may challenge immediately if it has a timeout and an available Challenge. Out-of-bounds review is challenge-only throughout the game; officials do not gain an independent last-two-minute trigger for this call. The decisive facts are the adverse called out-of-bounds ruling and Blue's timely procedure.
Situation: Blue challenges a shooting foul on Blue 8. Replay shows contact occurred before the shooter's shooting motion, so the crew chief changes it to a non-shooting foul but keeps it on Blue 8.
NBA 2025–26 ruling: the Challenge is unsuccessful. Continuation changed, but the challenged foul was not removed from the originally charged player. Blue loses the timeout and does not earn a second Challenge.
Situation: Blue 8 is called for a defensive foul. On Blue's first Challenge, clear video shows Blue 12 committed the proximate foul and Blue 8 did not.
NBA 2025–26 ruling: the crew chief may reassign the foul to Blue 12. Because the foul is no longer assigned to Blue 8, Rule 14 treats the Challenge as successful. Blue earns a second Challenge and ordinarily retains the timeout, subject to the mandatory-timeout exception.
Situation: defensive goaltending is called with 1:20 remaining in the fourth quarter. The coach wants to challenge it.
NBA 2025–26 ruling: the coach cannot use a Challenge for that event. If the on-court officials are not reasonably certain the called violation was correct, Rule 13 permits them to trigger replay. If they do not trigger it, the call stands; a possible goaltending non-call could not be reviewed either.
These changes do not turn replay into a general review of the possession. The eligible trigger and Rule 14's listed reviewable matters still set the boundary.
Checked on 26 August 2026. The season-labelled 2025–26 rulebook is the controlling edition used here. The undated live Rule 14 page still assigns the proximate-foul decision on an out-of-bounds Challenge to the on-court crew chief; the later NBA amendment notice and the 2025–26 rulebook assign the final ruling to the Replay Center Official, so this page follows those season-specific sources. No 2026–27 NBA playing-rules edition was identified at the time of checking. Competition-specific regulations and later NBA notices may supplement or replace this baseline.