Incidental Contact

[potato]

The 2 narratives on stealing/reaching seems unfair for the offense. An accidental hit can sometimes be sufficient to cause the ball handler to loose the ball/affect his shots. I'm guessing if it's a minor contact and the defender doesn't get any advantage out of it it's ok. But if it's enough to affect the ball handler it should be a foul.

Then again i know there's the legendary "The Hand(s) in contact of the ball is part of the ball & it's legal to hit the ball rule hence it's legal to hit the hand in contact with the ball."

Originally Posted by BillyMac

It is legal use of hands to accidentally hit the hand of the opponent when it is in contact with the ball. This includes holding, dribbling, passing, or even during a shot attempt. Striking a ball handler or a shooter on that player's hand that is incidental to an attempt to play the ball is not a foul.

Reaching in is not a foul. There must be illegal contact to have a foul. The mere act of reaching in, by itself, is nothing. If illegal contact does occur, it’s probably a holding foul, an illegal use of hands foul, or a hand check foul. When a player, in order to stop the clock, does not make a legitimate play for the ball, holds, pushes or grabs away from the ball, or uses undue roughness, the foul is an intentional foul.