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Predicting Which NBA Players Will Get Most Flopping Techs This Season – Bleacher Report
Ethical hoops fans rejoice. The NBA is at least trying something to slow down the wave of flopping that has washed over much of the league during the last several years.
Earlier this month, the league’s Board of Governors approved an “in-game flopping penalty” that will allow referees to assess technical fouls on players for a “flop—or a physical act that reasonably appears to be intended to cause the officials to call a foul on another player.”
Cynics may be doubtful this rule will affect real change. After all, the NBA’s ability to fine players for flops is still in place. It never went away. But that mechanism is rarely used. And flopping is endemic throughout the league. If you’d tuned in to just about any 2022-23 game, you were likely to see one (or a few).
So yes, there’s certainly a chance this doesn’t change much, but it’s worth a shot.
And now that the rule is in place, plenty of players have to at least be mildly concerned about its potential impact.
Notorious floppers like LeBron James, James Harden, Joel Embiid and Chris Paul could shoot one or two fewer free throws per game, but they won’t necessarily lead the league in flopping techs.
Whether subconsciously or otherwise, referees are going to be hesitant to hammer superstars with these in-game penalties. And that means second-tier floppers like Austin Reaves could be in line for the most whistles.
But of course, he isn’t likely to run away with that non-honor. No one is.
Who’ll lead the way in flopping techs next season? Scroll through the crystal ball below to find out.
One of the newer embellishers in the league, Trae Young has gotten up to speed on the ol’ stop-and-jump-backward-into-the-defender move in half a decade, but he hasn’t curried as much favor with officials as some of the other veterans mentioned in the intro.
As it relates to the incoming flopping technicals, that’s a pretty dangerous combination.
If Trae continues to embellish contact or deviate course in a way “that reasonably appears to be intended to cause the officials to call a foul on another player” the way he has to this point in his career, he’ll likely be whistled for a few violations of the new rule.
What may save him (at least a few whistles) is that a lot of Trae’s moves seem more geared toward tricking his opponent than the officials, which doesn’t fit the definition as neatly as the antics of some of the players to come.
Yeah, I said that the big-name floppers might not lead the league, but if they continue to play the way they have, they’ll give themselves a chance.
Embiid is one of the most skilled foul-baiters in the history of basketball. He is the all-time leader in free-throw attempts per 100 possessions, and second-place Shaquille O’Neal really isn’t close.
You don’t find your way to that spot as a face-up 5 without, at the very least, embellishing some contact.
Of course, a lot (maybe even most) of those trips to the line have been the result of legitimate fouls, but Embiid’s career flop reel is going to be generational by the time he’s done.
The reason he isn’t higher is, again, largely based on his reputation. Embiid is the reigning MVP. And while plenty of fans may have branded him as a flopper, the league tacitly doing the same by hitting him with a bunch of flopping techs feels highly unlikely.
Like Embiid, LeBron will have his reputation to save him from a handful of flop calls, but he’s prolific enough to find his way into the top 10 anyway.
From Cleveland to Miami to Los Angeles, LeBron has built a flop compilation (or flopilation, if you will) that can go head-to-head with that of just about any of his contemporaries.
And while LeBron’s production in Year 20 suggests he might be a basketball immortal, there’s no doubt he’s lost at least some of the explosiveness he had in his prime.
Without all of that, there’s a chance he might rely on antics a bit more to get an extra trip to the line here or there.
Another legacy inclusion, CP3 has authored some of the game’s most hilariously egregious flops.
And he’s been at it now for almost 20 years.
Of course, Paul’s stardom could, in theory, help in the same way it might spare Embiid and LeBron a few techs. but he’s famously had a number of run-ins with officials in the past.
He might have a little less leeway to work with, and the impending end of his career (Paul just turned 38 in May) could lead to desperation flops.
Harden is another all-timer. Ask just about any NBA fan, casual or otherwise, to name the most prolific floppers the game has ever seen, and it won’t be long before you hear Harden’s name.
And as his explosiveness wanes, it’s hard to imagine he’ll suddenly start flailing less.
At his peak, even with all the theatrics, Harden was a dynamic athlete and slasher who could get by just about anyone with a lightning quick first step.
In recent years, that’s largely been replaced by a new strategy for getting to the rim: stick the ball in front of you and bludgeon anyone in your path.
When that doesn’t work, Harden still resorts to accentuating contact (or conjuring it out of thin air) as shamelessly as anyone.
It’s just that now those flops often finish drives in which Harden is clearly the one initiating the contact, so it may be a little easier for officials to correctly identify them.
Now we’re getting into the players whose star power won’t outweigh the obviousness of the flailing. And we’ll start with second-year big man Jaylin Williams.
Last season, despite appearing in just 49 games, Williams led the league in charges drawn at 42. And the gap between that total and second-place Kevin Love’s 33 was significant.
Essentially every one of those plays is a flop. Even if, by the letter of the law, the majority were rightfully called charges, an entire defensive philosophy that consists of “run into the path of the driver, stop in front of him and throw yourself backward upon contact” is bound to be called the other way from time to time.
If Williams plays closer to a full season (say 65-plus games), attempts to draw charges at the same rate he did last season (and in college) and refs call even 5-10 percent of those plays flops, he’ll find his way to the leaderboard.
Austin Reaves had a heck of a breakout campaign in 2022-23, but every non-Los Angeles Lakers fan had to notice that it coincided with some absurd foul-drawing practices.
Reaves has a good feel for the pick-and-roll and gets to the rim fairly regularly, but when in doubt, he often resorts to embellishment.
And his inclination to flop isn’t confined to the offensive end either. Reaves often punctuates a hustle play on defense or the boards with a not-so-subtle head toss to coax the refs into blowing the whistle.
Much of the above worked in his favor in 2022-23 (among the 178 players in 2022-23 with 200-plus three-point attempts, Reaves trailed only Embiid in free-throw-attempt rate), but officials will be more keyed into flops this season.
Now that they have a tool at their disposal to counter the years-long trend, some of the antics of someone like Reaves will no longer be rewarded.
We’re back to the veterans with Kyle Lowry, a 37-year-old point guard who’s never been afraid to look silly embellishing contact or otherwise faking something to gain any hint of an advantage.
And while Lowry is heading into his 18th season, has six All-Star nods and won a title in 2019, he doesn’t have the same kind of star power as Embiid, LeBron or some of the others mentioned so far.
Expect plenty of instigating, flopping and other hijinks from Lowry in 2023-24, but don’t expect the same kind of latitude from officials.
Few players across NBA history have seemed as unconcerned about the physical consequences of crashing to the ground as Marcus Smart.
For nine years with the Boston Celtics, Smart scrambled, slid, dove, and yes, flopped his way into the hearts of fans.
And there’s no reason to think he’ll suddenly stop during his first season with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Smart is no longer with one of the league’s legacy franchises. He is aging toward the end of his prime and coming off a down year.
He’s about to do plenty of flopping, and enough of them will be called as such to put him on the leaderboard.
We’ve seen few (if any) NBA players embrace the heel persona quite like Dillon Brooks did last season, particularly in the playoffs.
Heck, we haven’t seen many professional wrestlers turn heel quite as aggressively as Brooks has.
Flopping is only a single ingredient in that recipe, but it’s a key one. And we should’ve known it would persist throughout his career the moment this happened.
Brooks has yet to have a moment quite that bad in the NBA, but it’s almost a symbol for the way he’s played for years.
Brooks’ game is desperate, and that desperation has led to an awful lot of good defense, tons of instigation and some ridiculous flops.
That will keep up with the Houston Rockets, and Brooks will earn more flopping techs than anyone else in the league in 2023-24.