Hack-a-player likely to be eliminated this summer, Silver says

The NBA appears poised to put an end to the practice of intentionally fouling poor free-throw shooters at league meetings this summer, commissioner Adam Silver suggested Thursday.

"It's not unanimous, but there's clearly an emerging consensus that we need to address the situation," Silver told attendees of The Associated Press Sports Editors meeting on Thursday. "Exactly what the new rule should be is open for debate, and at least I'm hoping that between now and the next owner's meeting in July we can create and form a consensus as to what the change in the rule should be."

Colloquially known as "Hack-a-Shaq" after Shaquille O'Neal, the practice has been in existence for decades. However, Silver and league executives have paid closer mind to it in recent seasons because of its effect on unnecessarily lengthening games.

"One of my concerns from a business standpoint is when Hack-a-Shaq happens three or more times in a game, it adds approximately 11 minutes to the game," Silver said, according to the Washington Post's Tim Bontemps.

"From our national broadcaster's standpoint, it's become a real business issue when many of our games are dramatically exceeding two-and-a-half-hour windows we have scheduled in our national broadcast window. That's one of the reasons why I feel the need to address that rule."

How the rule change will come into effect is unknown.

"It goes against the spirit of the rule book," NBA vice-president of operations Kiki VanDeWeghe said. "Free throws were to compensate and deter fouls, not to encourage them. So I think we're at the point where everyone agrees on that, not to belabor that, so what are the solutions?"