The NBA will make its first attempt to crack down on flopping by testing out an in-game penalty during summer league play, the league announced Tuesday.
According to the penalty rules, which are proposed for the regular season, a player who commits a flop — currently characterized as players using exaggeration to sell a foul to the game officials — will be given a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul, which doesn’t qualify as a personal foul or lead to an ejection.
The opposing team will be awarded one free throw and possession of the ball.
Officials don’t have to stop live play to assess a flopping violation but can wait until the next “neutral opportunity” to take a break to assess the penalty.
The league said these proposed flopping penalty rules will be in effect on a provisional basis during all of this year’s summer league games, which began Monday and include action over the next two weeks in Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.
Since 2012, the league has publicly warned players and/or levied the occasional fine for flops, but there are no specific in-game penalties for flopping. If the league determines a player flopped, a warning is issued, followed by fines that increase with each violation.
When initially determining fines for flopping in 2012, the NBA defined a flop as “an attempt to either fool referees into calling undeserved fouls or fool fans into thinking the referees missed a foul call by exaggerating the effect of contact with an opposing player.”
The NBA Board of Governors must approve the penalty if it is to take effect for the 2023-24, or subsequent, seasons.
–Field Level Media
