2024-25 High School Basketball season to implement new 'Flopping' rule

High School Basketball will see some changes as the National Federation of State High School Associations has added new rules going into the 2024-25 season. One of the new rules states that faking being fouled or "flopping" will result in a team warning.

A total of 12 rule changes have been made in high school basketball for the new season. These have also been approved by the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee after the meetings held in April.

Lindsey Atkinson, the director of sports at NFHS, talked about these changes and said they will "focus on player safety" in high school basketball, among other things.

“The committee approved changes addressing a variety of different areas,” Atkinson said. “Maintaining a focus on player safety, fairness, balance and rules that officials can effectively adjudicate continue to be the focus of the committee.”

While flopping is not the easiest of decisions for the officials, the new rule introduces a new language that will make it easy for them. Furthermore, the high school basketball officials have also been guided to record the first warning in the scorebook. However, if there are more instances of "flopping," it will result in a team technical foul instead of a player technical foul.

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What are the other rule changes in High School Basketball?

Faking being fouled or "flopping" came under Rule 4-49-1. Some more rules have been implemented or amended:

Rule 1-19: Electronic devices will only be used for recording and tracking stats, reviewing plays or similar contest-related functions, and not voice or video recording.

Rule 2-11-11: This rule helps the official scorer stay focused on the game as it states that the non-official scorers will notify the official scorers if there is any disparity in scoring.

Rule 3-3-6: This rule states that a time-out is not required for the injured player to get off the court, regardless of the bench staff stepping on the court.

Rule 7-1-1: This rule ensures that any on-court player cannot be assisted by the bench outside the boundary line.

Rule 4-6-1: This rule is about goaltending. Basket interference is allowed even with contact if the official feels that it did not affect the ball going down the net.

The NHFS website has listed all the changes that have been made in the “Activities & Sports” tab. In the NBA, flopping results in a technical foul if caught mid-game and a fine if it is caught post-game in video reviews.

What do you think of the rule changes in high school basketball? Let us know in the comments section below!