Technical Foul?
 

A1 jumps towards the basket and tries to dunk. B1 meets him at the rim and commits a foul...a hard foul but nothing that would be considered intentional or flagrant. A1 loses his balance and lands on the floor right on his back in serious pain. After about 5-10 seconds on the floor, A1 gets up and (a) heads back to the locker room. The locker room is opposite the table so the trainer is probably about 40-50 feet behind him. Or (b) heads back to the locker room and is followed by A2 apparently to see if he is OK. Would a technical foul be warranted to A1 or A2 for leaving the court for an unauthorized reason?

Why would this not be an authorized reason?

Since the rule book doesn't define "unauthorized reason", its up to the officials. I'm certainly considering this "authorized". If A2 goes all the way to the locker room with injured A1, tell the coach you need a sub for A2 also unless he wants to take a timeout.

I suppose you technically COULD come up with rule support for a T on A2 for "leaving the court for an unauthorized reason", but that doesn't mean that you SHOULD.

(as was quoted to me at a (football) officiating clinic last spring: "If your description of a rule to a coach includes the word 'technically', you're fscking wrong")

Have the coach bring in subs for A1 and A2, figure out which new player is "A1's substitute", and resume the game with the free throws.

What's with all these stupid leaving the court question. Leaving the court is not a big deal. I have had 0 instances in 14ish years with this. Kid is injured, or gets off his bench and heads out a door I consider that authorized.

I would remind the coach to make sure the kids is supervised but what are you going to do. Go into the locker room to observe this. A kid runs in the stands to start a fight or argument, T. The kid leaves the bench to go into the hallway to get a drink from the water fountain I DONT CARE. I'm not in the business of hunting for turds.

So let me see if I have this correct:
- player attempting a dunk is fouled
- player falls backward and lands on his back
- player stays on the floor for almost :10 (typical of someone who is hurt)
- he gets up and starts walking towards the locker room.

Why in the world would someone issue a technical foul? He's hurt! If he wasn't, he would walk to the FT line...

C'mon people...don't "split hairs".

Simply "call the obvious" and you'll avoid LOTS of trouble.

This isn't even splitting hairs....that would be shaving the whole head.

Do we whack players for helping a player with a sprained ankle off the court?

ask the coach for subs and let's move on with substitute free throw shooter

The leaving the court for an unauthorized reason rule is never used
 

I think that some people become aware of this rule and then wonder when they will get to use it. I have never seen it called and I don't remember ever hearing of someone who called it. (That said, I'm sure that someone on the internet has seen it called.)

My guess is that the rule is there as a potential tool in the rare event that a player leaves the court and leaves everyone thinking WTF.

For instance, if a player is being sneaky and hiding off-court (perhaps instead of playing defense) so that he/she can then return to the court and be unguarded for a layup.

Or maybe a player leaves the court to confront someone in the stands because he/she isn't happy with who is talking to his/her girlfriend/boyfriend in the stands.

What are you guys talking about?
The rule involving leaving the court for an unauthorized reason applies during a LIVE ball and the penalty is a violation.
There is a separate rule for leaving the court to demonstrate disgust or resentment with an officials decision. That would apply here.
Finally, we have a rule penalizing the head coach with a T if the team member(s) are allowed to leave the bench area when it isn't permitted.

If we are goin to discuss penalizing players, let's get the proper rules involved!