NBA enforces strong penalty on flopping; to come into effect next season – NBA News
The NBA has finally decided to penalize the act of flopping during games, which will be put into effect from next season onwards. The league was highly criticized last season for allowing players to fool referees into giving bad fouls, and the league commissioner David Stern spoke out against the act of flopping during the season, saying that he would look into the matter after the season ended.
The league has defined flopping as “any physical act that appears to have been intended to cause the referees to call a foul on another player." According to the new penalties being imposed, a player will get a warning the first time, receive a fine of $5000 for his second offence and $10,000 for his third offence. The fine increases to $15,000 for the fourth offence and $30,000 for the fifth. Six or more offences could lead to a suspension.
“Flops have no place in our game. They either fool referees into calling undeserved fouls or fool fans into thinking the referees missed a foul call. Accordingly, both the Board of Governors and the competition committee felt strongly that any player who the league determines, following video review, to have committed a flop should -- after a warning -- be given an automatic penalty,” vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson said in a statement.
The National Basketball Players Association has decided to file their grievance with the NBA for not taking them on board before making the decision, and also intend to take the matter up with the National Labour Relations Board.
“The NBA is not permitted to unilaterally impose new economic discipline against the players without first bargaining with the union,” said NBPA executive director Billy Hunter in a released statement. League officials however are confident that the stance taken by the NBPA will not affect their decision, as they feel that they have the authority and right to enforce new rules under the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Despite the decision taken by the NBPA, players have sided with the NBA for making the rule, as they say that it will help in limiting the act of flopping during games. Kobe Bryant, Rasheed Wallace, Amar’e Stoudemire and James Harden all came out in support of the decision in the hope that it will discourage players from using the unethical technique to get foul calls.
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