The NBA has introduced a new rule to clamp down on ‘flopping’ across the league.
Flopping has been defined by the league as "a physical act that reasonably appears to be intended to cause the officials to call a foul on another player.” It has been confirmed that players who are found to be guilty of 'flopping' will be handed a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul.
However, it will not count as a personal foul or result in an ejection from a particular game, but the opposing team will be awarded a free throw. Possession of the ball will remain with the team whose player was called for flopping, and any violations cannot be reviewed by a coach’s challenge.
Referees also will not need to stop the action to call a flop and instead can wait until the next break in play to make the call. Those found guilty of flopping will be fined $2,000, and the number will increase for those who repeatedly violate the rule.
The rule was tested in the Summer League and the NBA were satisfied enough by what they saw to implement it across the league next season. on a one-year trial basis, but not everyone is in favour of the rule, such as Sacramento Kings star De’Aaron Fox.
“Lol yeah refs needed more power,” the point guard tweeted in response to a tweet regarding the new rule. In response to a fan who said flopping is ‘killing the game’, Fox added: “For sure but refs shouldn’t get to make that judgement. Techs cost guys money and suspensions lol.”
Several big names had been calling for a rule to limit flopping, such as Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. "If a referee deems a player has flopped [in FIBA], they just call it a technical foul, and it’s pretty penalizing,” he said during the Playoffs back in May.
"And so the flopping has basically been eliminated from FIBA, and we have the ability to do the same thing in the NBA if we want. I think we should address it, because the players are so smart, and the entire regular season is about gamesmanship and trying to fool the refs.
“And this is how it’s been for a while, and it’s up to us as a league. Do we want to fix this? ... These are all things that are my personal plea to the NBA. I think we can do better in terms of cleaning up the flopping.” Another ruling set to be introduced is coaches being awarded an additional challenge if their first one is correct.
However, there is a catch, as teams must have a timeout available in order to challenge a call and that timeout will not be retained even if the first challenge was successful.
