The NBA announced an "in-game flopping penalty" for the 2023-24 season that includes technical foul calls and fines that increase for repeat offenders. It comes after another season full of finger-pointing about players flopping to get favourable whistles.
According to the league, a flop is considered a "physical act that reasonably appears to be intended to cause the officials to call a foul on another player."
When such a violation occurs, the NBA wrote in a statement, "the offending player will be charged with a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul and the opposing team will be awarded one free throw attempt, which could be attempted by any player who is in the game when the technical foul is assessed. A player will not be ejected from a game based on flopping violations."
"Referees will not be required to stop live play to call a flopping violation," explained the NBA. "If necessary (for example, to avoid stopping live play while the offensive team has an immediate scoring opportunity), the officials will wait until the next neutral opportunity to stop live play to administer the flopping penalty. After the penalty free throw, the league’s resumption of play principles will apply, meaning that the team with actual or imminent possession when play was stopped will be awarded possession when play resumes."
The NBA has clarified that coaches cannot directly challenge a flop violation, though if a referee spots a flop during a foul review, they may call it as needed.
Additionally, the fines for flopping violations will now mirror those of technical fouls. Fines begin at $2,000 for first-time offenders and increase incrementally for repeat offenders. The NBA Board of Governors approved the rule change, which will exist on a one-year trial basis.
"A flopping violation called by the officials in real time will not result in a fine or count toward the postgame financial penalty system," wrote the NBA. "When a flop is called by the referees, the lone penalty will be the in-game competitive penalty of the opposing team being awarded one free throw attempt."
The NBA has also revealed a separate rule that will give coaches a second challenge if their first is successful. Last year, the inability to trigger a second replay review bothered many coaches who felt they were forced to save their challenges only for end-of-game situations.
"A team must continue to use a timeout to trigger a challenge, which means a team will not be able to use its first or second challenge unless it still has a timeout available," wrote the NBA. "In addition, a team will continue to retain the timeout used to initiate its first challenge if the challenge is successful and did not trigger a mandatory timeout.
"For game length and game flow reasons, a team will not retain the timeout used to initiate its second challenge even if the challenge is successful."
