Section I—Team

c. In the event that a player leaves the playing court while the ball is in play, play will continue until the next stoppage of play and the player will be replaced if he is not ready to return. No technical foul will be assessed, but the incident will be reviewed by the league office for a possible fine and/or suspension.

EXCEPTION: Rule 10—Section XV

Section XV—Offensive Player Out-of-Bounds

An offensive player shall not leave the playing area of the court without returning immediately and cannot repeatedly leave and re-enter the court.

EXCEPTION: (1) injury, (2) inbounding the ball on a throw-in and (3) any other unusual circumstance.

PENALTY: Loss of ball. The ball is awarded to the opposing team on the sideline at the point of interruption but no nearer to the baseline than the foul line extended.

A defender may be in the way of the offensive player's path in motion of a play.  Only in that instance is the player is allowed to traverse off and back on the court briefly.  This is very common along the baseline in the front court.   

But if a player leaves the court unexpectedly for non-substitution reasons, play will continue until the next dead ball. The team will need to replace the player if the player is not ready to return.

Crew Chief stuff!!

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