What Is Hacking in Basketball?

Hacking is a common type of foul in the game of basketball. It can be executed incidentally, while a defensive player hurriedly guards a particularly difficult-to-stop offensive player, or it can be part of a purposeful system designed to slow down a specific player. Whether it's done purposefully or not, it is always a foul when a referee sees it happen.

  1. How to Hack

    • A player hacks when he makes a chopping motion with his arm and hand, bringing it down onto the opposing player's forearm, wrist or hand. It normally happens when a defensive player attempts to knock the ball away from the grip of the offensive player who has the ball. The offensive player can be either standing still, holding the ball, dribbling the ball or driving toward the basket when the defensive player forcefully hacks his arm or hand.

    Why Hack?

    • The main reason a defensive player hacks is to steal the ball away when an offensive player is simply holding the ball, setting up a move. If the player with the ball anticipates this and moves the ball away, the defensive player ends up hacking his opponent's arm, instead of hitting the ball. Defensive players are normally aiming for the ball when an offensive player is driving toward the basket, or elevating toward the rim. The defensive player misses the ball, but strikes the player's body. Hacks done like this are usually accidental. Other times, if an offensive player is a particularly bad free-throw shooter, players hack him to put him on the free-throw line, where they anticipate him missing, allowing them to get the ball back.

    Penalty for Hacking

    • Since hacking is a personal foul in basketball, if the offensive player is in the motion of shooting when he gets hacked, the referee awards him two free throws if he misses the shot, and one free throw if he makes the shot. If the player with the ball is not in the act of shooting, it depends on how many fouls the defensive team has already committed in that half, as to whether the offensive player shoots free throws or not. When called, a hack counts against a specific player's number of personal fouls accrued in the game. In college, a player can only accumulate five fouls, while in the NBA, players can accumulate a total of six fouls before being ejected.

    Hack-a-Shaq

    • Purposefully hacking powerful, now-retired basketball player Shaquille O'Neal was once part of the defensive strategy of some opposing teams. Teams that did this employed what was called the "Hack-a-Shaq" strategy. It involved a player purposefully seeking out O'Neal and hacking him in order to send him to the free-throw line, where O'Neal's percentage of made shots was notoriously shaky. Although popular among opposing teams, especially late in games, the method slowed down the flow of games as Shaq constantly had to step to the free-throw line.