NBA flopping rule: what is a flop and how will it be punished? / News - Basketnews.com

Reactions to contact that are deemed secondary, excessive, and theatrical will be deemed as flops. Distance travelled by the flopper, excessive flailing of limbs, and the potential to injure other players as a result of the flop will be used as identifiers.

Credit: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images via AFP - Scanpix Credit Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images via AFP - Scanpix

The NBA has established a new rule to punish the league's players for flopping. Monty McCutchen, senior vice president of referee development and training, has explained the details.

In a conference call with several NBA reporters, McCutchen shared how the league will define what a flop is and how the referees will enforce the new rule.

In short, the NBA officials will have a short and easily memorizable acronym to remember the guidelines - STEM - Secondary Theatrical Excessive Movements, via Joe Vardon and Sam Amick from The Athletic.

Reactions to contact that are deemed secondary, excessive, and theatrical will be deemed as flops.

The penalty for a flop will be a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul. However, it will not count toward the possible ejection of a player. For an ejection, two unsportsmanlike technical fouls are needed.

Identifiers to determine flops:

Significant distance traveled by the flopping player Excessive flailing of limbs Potential to have injured another player as a result of having flopped

If a flop is not called during the game but identified post-game, a player will be fined $2,000.

If a flopping violation is called on the same play where another player is called for an unsportsmanlike technical foul, the two technicals will offset one another despite one of them being non-unsportsmanlike and the other unsportsmanlike.

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