NBA tightens the punishment for faking fouls heading into the 2026 season

Rudy Gobert of Minnesota pushed Jalen Brunson of New York in the back during a preseason game early this week. And the Most Valuable Player of the most recent NBA Finals fell backward after receiving that impact. It was something predictable, expected, understandable. The thing is, Brunson kept staggering, and that is what the NBA is watching. The league's message is simple: enough with the faking. Although it is "normal" for a strong man of 2.16 meters and 117 kilos like Gobert to get someone 28 centimeters shorter and 31 kilos lighter like Brunson knocked off balance with a shove, the referee clearly considered at that moment that the Knicks star exaggerated the impact. A technical foul was assessed for simulating. Brunson didn't like it, but the NBA claims that these penalties will come this season when the line between "adorning" the action and simulating is crossed—a subjective line, to say the least. "We are seeing people who say: 'Oh, I'm tired of them faking,'" stated Monty McCutchen, NBA's senior vice president for player development and officiating education, before the preseason began this fall. "There is a true institutional distinction between adornments—which we have allowed and will continue to allow, which are not secondary, not theatrical, not exaggerated—and simulation." "Adornment is saying: 'Listen, I think something illegal happened here and I'm trying to draw attention to it.' We did not want to deprive our players of the passion or the ability to draw attention to something." The NBA always has priorities for officiating—some calls emphasizing points, others areas of focus—leading up to a season. This year's lists include clarity on pushes with the free arm by offensive players (or illegally creating space), what constitutes legal freedom of movement in screens and proper defensive closeouts on jump shots. Referees have gone to training camps to give teams a demonstration of what is happening, and obviously, preseason games offer a more open look at the changes and how they will affect the game. The annual priority list is not made by chance; it emerges after countless meetings with stakeholders, members of the competition committee, and more. Everything matters, and achieving better control over the tendency to fake seems to be what everyone wants. "For me, it's a simple solution: just don't reward these actions that are not basketball. That's all," commented the Minnesota coach, Chris Finch. "I think those of us who have been in this sport long enough know what is and isn't... We don't teach faking here. We don't teach adorning. We have never done it." About the signature Clarín Newsletter I received all the news, stories, and analysis from Clarín journalists in your email I WANT TO RECEIVE IT