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In 2021, the NBA pledged to crack down on players with a tendency to channel their inner Theater Kid by going out of their way to draw contact from a defender while shooting. It was a pretty welcome change, and now, the league is hoping fans will feel the same way about its plans to address its flopping epidemic.
While guys in the NBA have nothing on the soccer players who frequently act like they’ve been shot by a sniper perched atop the stadium in an attempt to draw a penalty, there are still plenty of people who rely on similar tactics in the hopes of gaining a competitive advantage.
That brand of gamesmanship is obviously a sore point with teams who are victimized by a weak whistle as well as fans who already have plenty of bones to pick with the referees tasked with keeping order, and over the summer, the NBA Board of Governors officially adopted a new rule to address its flopping problem.
Now, The Washington Post reports the league has offered some insight into how it plans to enforce the change, which gives refs the green light to hit any player who gets their flop on with a technical foul that would give the opposing team the chance to hit a free throw and retain possession of the ball.
On Thursday, Monty McCutchen (the NBA’s head of referee development and training) said officials have been instructed to harness the acronym S.T.E.M. to punish players who deploy “Secondary, Theatrical, and Exaggerated Movements” to try to draw a whistle on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
The outlet notes players who receive a technical for flopping won’t have to worry about being ejected if they receive a second one for the same violation, although the league says referees will still be able to send guys to the locker room if they get hit with one for arguing a call after getting T’d up for a flop.
If previous rule changes are any indication, flopping will be a major point of focus for refs in the preseason, but we’ll just have to wait and see how much of an impact the tweak has once the regular season kicks off.