NBA May Institute Flopping Penalty, With Trial During Summer League

The NBA is again growing tired of the acting. Or more precisely, all the flopping. So it appears the league could start penalizing players for such behavior.

As relayed by Shams Charania of The Athletic, the competition committee is discussing potentially calling technical fouls on floppers, presumably s soon as next season.

The new rule could be tried out at the NBA Summer League in July, Charania added.

This year’s playoffs are an extension of the regular season in that regard, with players attempting to fool the officials into thinking they’ve been fouled. A lot of times, the refs respond favorably, buckle, and give the players the result they’re seeking — a foul on the other guy.

Flopping also became a hot topic during the Lakers-Warriors series in the Western Conference finals.

It came to attention after LeBron James took exception to a suggestion from Warriors coach Steve Kerr that the Lakers are getting away with flops.

“We don’t work on flopping,” James said. “We’re just not a team that goes out there and looking for flopping opportunities. It’s just not us. It’s never been. There’s actually never been any teams that I’ve played on in my 20 years where we’ve been a flopping team.”

Now, it seems, the league is ready to make sure everyone has no choice but to give a similar response.