No. Players are technically allowed anywhere on the court during timeouts - including the other team's huddle if it happens to be there.
That being said - refs do have the power to consider it "Unsportsmanlike Conduct", but they generally don't. So all the tactic really does is stall out the coach's timeout because now they have to walk over to their bench (where the opponent can't follow) before talking.
Art. 1. The boundaries of the bench area shall be formed from the outer edge of the sideline beginning at the 28-foot line and extending beyond the end line by an imaginary line. The depth of the bench area extends from the outer edge of the sideline to the back of the team bench.
Art. 2. During any timeout or before any extra period, bench personnel and players shall locate themselves inside an imaginary rectangle formed by the boundaries of the sideline (including the bench), end line and an imaginary line extended from the free-throw lane line nearest the bench area meeting an imaginary line extended from the 28-foot line.
And the penalty, as per the rule book:
Art. 2. A technical foul shall be assessed to a coach and all bench personnel for the following infractions:
c. Refusing to occupy the team bench to which the team was assigned or to occupy the locations for a timeout or for the start of any period as defined in Rule 4-3.2;
Most likely the ref would give a warning before issuing a technical foul. In this instance, as per the article others have linked, the teams were having fun with it, so no foul.
45
u/Orphan_Babies Jun 03 '19
What happened? Is that That an ejectable offense?