Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton weighed in on the ongoing discussion around flopping in the NBA, saying on “The Pat McAfee Show” that it’s “for sure” being taught.
Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has received the most attention for perceived flopping in order to draw fouls, but Halburton believed it went well beyond just one player.
“Yeah for sure, it’s being taught. I don’t think it’s as much head coach teaching as much as it is like player development,” he said on the ESPN program “Even before you get to the NBA, it’s just something that you kind of work on by nature. I think the best scorers are usually the guys that get to the free-throw line the most. It’s definitely something they work on, even in pickup, they’re working on how they can draw fouls. I think that’s a part of the game.”
Concerns about flopping have continued to permeate around the NBA, with Yahoo Sports’ Tom Haberstroh going as far as to do an extensive breakdown of Gilgeous-Alexander’s attempts to sell foul calls.
His report found that Gilgeous-Alexander fell down 51.4 percent of the time when a foul was called.
“I think more times than not there’s embellishing going on, more so than falling over out of nowhere, but does it happen? Of course it happens and it’s talked about, no question,” Haliburton said.
The Pacers star wasn’t the only one to address the flopping issue on McAfee’s show.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, during his appearance on the Worldwide Leader, made the distinction between trying to embellish contact to draw a foul and trying to trick the officials.
“Even as I sit in the stands at games, players may be falling down, players may be reacting to a call,” Silver said. “But to me, if they’re not fooling the referees, it’s OK.
“Players are taught to sell calls these days.”
