The NBA is officially cracking down on flopping, as the league’s board of governors permanently implemented a penalty for the action into the playing rules on Tuesday.
In-game penalties for flopping were handed out during the 2023-24 campaign, but the NBA was using this past season as a trial year for the rule.
When a referee calls a flop, the player who committed the act will be given a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul. The opposing team then gets to shoot one free throw, and it can send any player who was on the floor at the time of the flop to the line.
Violations for flopping cannot lead to ejections.
The NBA Board of Governors also voted to make a change to the in-season tournament, and now any points scored in overtime will not factor into point differential and total points tiebreakers. That change will be installed for the 2024 in-season tournament, set to begin on Nov. 12.
Point differential and total points are the second and third tiebreakers, respectively, in the group stage of the in-season tournament.