Kings’ Fox makes stance clear on NBA’s new flopping rule originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Kings guard De’Aaron Fox might not be a fan of the NBA’s new flopping rule.
The NBA Board of Governors approved two gameplay changes for the upcoming 2023-24 season on Tuesday. One tweak awards coaches with a second challenge if their first is successful, and the other issues a technical foul free throw to teams when an opposing player is whistled for a flop.
Fox made his stance crystal clear on the latter tweak.
Many notable names around basketball have been clamoring for the league to address its flopping issue. Warriors coach Steve Kerr has voiced his opinion that there should be a flopping rule in the NBA, just like there is in international play.
“If a referee deems a player has flopped [in FIBA], they just call it a technical foul, and it’s pretty penalizing,” Kerr said in May during Golden State’s playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers. “And so the flopping has basically been eliminated from FIBA, and we have the ability to do the same thing in the NBA if we want.
“I think we should address it, because the players are so smart, and the entire regular season is about gamesmanship and trying to fool the refs. And this is how it’s been for a while, and it’s up to us as a league. Do we want to fix this? … These are all things that are my personal plea to the NBA. I think we can do better in terms of cleaning up the flopping.”
Fox might agree with Kerr in his overall mission, but it seems the Kings’ All-Star guard appears to wish there would be a different way to penalize floppers.
The NBA tested out the flopping rule in summer league, and apparently liked it enough to insert it into the rule book for this upcoming season.
If flopping goes away, it’ll improve the product of the game. But there assuredly are a few controversial Last Two Minute Reports in the league’s future.