Fines For Flopping? NBA Considers Retroactive Penalties for Floppers

It looks like fans aren’t the only ones sick of the ever increasing flopping problem that continues to plague the NBA.

According to CBS Sports, NBA commissioner David Stern met with the league’s newly reformed competition committee on Monday to discuss ways to deter players from committing the act of falling without getting fouled.

“One option,” Stern said, “is a ‘postgame analysis’ in which a player could be penalized if it was determined he flopped.

Currently, the NBA retroactively upgrades or downgrades flagrant fouls after review, and along those lines Stern said that perhaps a player could receive a message from New York saying: “Greetings from the league office. You have been assigned flopper status.”

“No, I’m joking, but something like that,” Stern said. “That sort of lets people know that it’s not enough to say `it’s all part of the game.”‘

Flopping, which can be defined as faking a foul that didn’t actually occur or exaggerating contact in order to deceive an official into blowing his or her whistle, is (in my opinion) one of the most annoying actions in the game of basketball (or any sport for that matter).

While some fans and players have argued it’s just a part of the game, the truth is that condoning flopping it is no different than agreeing that cheating (as long as it’s done well) should be permitted.

While no official flopping penalties have been set in place as of yet, Stern hopes by July to have a policy to address the issue, which bothers him because he feels it tricks the referees. He said there’s a “broad array of issues” to look at that can let players know the practice is to be discouraged.

“If you continue to [flop], you may you have to suffer some consequences,” he said. “What those exactly should be and what the progression is is to be decided, because … we just want to put a stake in the ground that says this is not something that we want to be part of our game, without coming down with a sledgehammer but just doing it in a minimalist way to begin stamping it out. And I think there are ways we can do that and we’ll have to wait and see exactly what we come up with.”

Readers, please chime in with your opinions on the matter: Do you think NBA players should be fined or penalized in anyway for flopping?

For a blatant case of flopping (by two of the league’s most notorious fake fallers), check out the following video: