Flopping, an exaggeration or even a fake demonstration of contact with an opposing player in hopes of getting a foul called, is seen widely across sports, especially in soccer and basketball. In the National Basketball Association (NBA), flopping is hurting the game’s integrity and changing the style of gameplay.
Less than 24 hours after the Boston Celtics lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics star player Jaylen Brown joined a Twitch livestream, where he broke down the loss and complained about flopping. Brown showed clips on the stream where Philadelphia center Joel Embiid engages in flopping. Brown acknowledges flopping is part of the game to draw a foul, but to him there is a clear distinction between drawing a foul and completely exaggerating a play. He argues Embiid’s approach crosses that line and harms the integrity of the sport. Brown explained, “Flopping and exaggerating contact is different. It’s like when somebody barely touched you and you selling a call to make it seem like you just got short… flopping has ruined our game.” Brown blamed the officials for the fouling calls during the livestream, which resulted in the league fining him $50,000 for criticizing referees.
Brown’s distinction is important and correct. Every player knows how essential it is to draw a foul. In basketball practice, my coaches taught us how to sell calls. However, when the line gets crossed to a complete exaggeration of contact, it can cost games. Flopping leads to excessive foul calling, slowing down the pace of the game and allowing teams to have more opportunities to shoot at the free throw line.
The criticism against flopping cannot be aimed only at the players themselves, as officials and the league need to properly address this issue.
Starting with the 2023-24 NBA season, the league approved a new rule aimed to target flopping. With the new rule, when an official calls a flop, the offending player will be charged with a technical foul for unsportsmanlike activity. This gives the opposing team one free throw attempt. If the call was missed during the game, a $2,000 fine can be administered afterwards.
The new rule is exactly the right step in addressing the flopping issue. But the problem is NBA officials are barely making the call. In the 2023-24 season, the calls were made a decent amount of time, with 22 calls in the first half of the season, but this number decreased in the second half. The following season saw barely any flopping call being made. Having a rule that addresses flopping is only effective when it is actually implemented.
Flopping is definitely not new to the NBA, but the conversation around it has increased during this season’s playoffs.
The NBA has attempted to address the flopping issue, but without enforcement, the attempts do not make change. With the technology and instant replay available during games, the league and officials need to take further initiative to limit flopping.
The line between a real foul and flopping can be hard to distinguish. However, officials are trained to be able to notice the distinctions. The league’s senior vice president Monty McCutchen, head of development and training for referee operations, led discussion of flopping where he explained the indications of exaggerations: “And then there’s theatrical and exaggerated movements. Some of the indicators of that are: Are there multiple rollovers? Is there a large distance covered that is not equitable to the contact? Is the reaction consistent with the amount of contact that was taken? If those things are not met, then secondary, theatrical and exaggerated movements should be penalized with a flopping violation.” With these guidelines, officials should be taking a greater role in utilizing the calls against flopping.
Fans, players, coaches, and everyone involved in the game are affected by flopping. Wrong foul calls slow down the pace of the game, waste a coach’s challenge—a mechanism that allows for coaches to challenge a call on a play typically once per game—and result in players reaching their foul limit for contact that they did not make. The NBA needs to be taking greater steps to reduce flopping and enforce their rule in order to support the best interest of players, teams, and the entire NBA fanbase. Fans are always going to complain about officials and whether or not they agree with a certain call, but in order to keep the integrity of games, players cannot keep getting away with exaggerated or made up contact, costing crucial games.
Image source: CBS Sports