Flopping is pretty obviously a thing in the NBA. And it’s not a thing specific to one team or another — literally everyone does it. The officials reward it, too.
But let any fan tell it, their team almost never flops. The calls are always legitimate and correct. There’s no embellishing on the part of the players to make sure the squad gets to the foul line.
LeBron James agrees. At least when it comes to the Lakers, anyway.
James was asked about comments from Steve Kerr about the Lakers flopping in Game 4 and how those comments could’ve potentially impacted the officials in Game 5.
LeBron wasn’t here for any of it, of course. He defended his team, as he should.
"We don't work on flopping."
LeBron echoes Darvin Ham's comments about gamesmanship pic.twitter.com/HPx0DQAj9H
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 11, 2023
“I just know that we, our coaching staff and us players, we don’t work on flopping. That’s not even part of our game — our game is to attack, attack the paint. We don’t mind physical contact. We actually like the contact. We don’t shy away from it. We’re just not a team that goes out there and looks for flopping opportunities.”
Now, look, y’all. We know the vibes here. Do the Lakers flop? Absolutely. Again — everyone does! James has had some pretty ridiculous flops himself in the past.
But James couldn’t just sit there and say “yes, we flop.” Then the flops would never be rewarded again. So he said this, exactly as he should’ve.
JaMychal Green called him out for it though. Specifically, he called cap. That means he says LeBron is lying, for those of you who don’t know.
JaMychal Green calls 🧢 on LeBron https://t.co/8rJSfLv5uS pic.twitter.com/k4nMoKITh6
— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) May 11, 2023
And, yeah, he definitely is. For sure. 100%. But the Warriors flop, too. So it’s not like Green can really say much too much here.
None of this matters at all. The two teams still have to play one another on Friday. But don’t be shocked if we see a tighter whistle following it from the officials. That probably means there will be a few more flops from players all around because of it.
