NBA world reacts as anti-flopping rule goes into practice

Earlier this week, the NBA officially announced that they will be implementing a new anti-flopping rule for the NBA Summer League. We have now seen how the rule looks on the court, and fans had plenty of reactions to how the rule was enforced on Wednesday night.

The new rule makes it so the player committing a flopping penalty will be assessed a technical foul that does not count toward an ejection. This will result in a technical free throw for the opposing team.

We saw this get called in Wednesday’s Summer League game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Grizzlies forward Jake Laravia drove the ball to the basket, making contact with Thunder guard Jalen Shackelford in the process. Shackelford threw his head back to emphasize the contact and was called for a technical by officials after the play was finished.

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1676744383885082624

Fans have largely been against players flopping, so many fans were in favor of how the rule was carried out.

Jaden Shackelford making history receiving the first flopping technical foul

— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) July 5, 2023

I love this rule in California Juco ball. Glad the NBA picked up on it.

— TyroneShelley MBA (@TShelley87) July 6, 2023

I really like that they let the play finish before making the call. There are several other instances where this strategy would be better for the game of basketball.

— 🗡ICE-D🗡 (@OttoPieLit) July 6, 2023

Others thought that the call was a bad one in this instance considering Shackelford actually did take contact to his head even if he did sell it a little bit.

Refs assess a technical foul to Jaden Shackelford for flopping … except then the replay clearly shows him catching an elbow to the face.

— tribjazz (@tribjazz) July 5, 2023

this is a terrible call. guys elbow makes contact with the defenders face, he exaggerated the motion to get the refs attention but that’s an offensive foul.

— fred (@farivvv) July 6, 2023

Shackelford took to social media to offer his opinion on the call, clearly not loving it based on the emoji’s he put on a replay of the play.

😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 https://t.co/ONoZMK2DKX

— Jaden Shackelford (@jayunooo) July 6, 2023

This is still just a trial period for the new rule, as the NBA Board of Governors will still need to vote on the changes later this month to put the changes into action for the 2023-24 season.

Sources: The NBA Board of Governors will vote on July 11 to approve two changes that would begin in the 2023-24 season:

– In-game penalty for flops resulting in technical foul free throw (trial basis)
– A second coach’s challenge awarded if first challenge is successful

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 30, 2023

[Bleacher Report on Twitter]