Report: NBA studying flopping

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

Flopping is already illegal in international play. Now, it might become illegal in the NBA, as well.

The NBA is studying how often flopping occurs and whether officials can tell the difference between flops and actual fouls, Stu Jackson, the NBA's executive vice president for basketball operations, told Bloomberg News in a story published Thursday.

"They're really difficult to determine in real time. They're meant to fool an official," Jackson said. "Are we going to be wrong more times than not? It's tough, but we're looking at it."

Jackson said the NBA is considering whether to allow its officials to impose technical fouls for flopping, which FIBA, the governing body of international basketball, allows its referees to do. Other sports, such as hockey and soccer, also allow referees to penalize players who flop.

"We have so many more plays than you do in a football or soccer game and in a more intimate environment," he said.

Jackson didn't give a timetable for the league to make a decision.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print
• Subscribe