The NBA has a flopping problem, one Schlereth says it’s the league’s job to fix

There was a time when basketball was decided primarily by who could shoot, defend and outwork the opponent. There is still plenty of that, of course. But somewhere along the way, a different skill crept into the highest levels of the sport — the ability to convince a referee that contact happened when it didn’t, or that minor contact warranted a whistle it never should have drawn.

It’s called flopping. And on a Friday edition of “Stokley and Evans, with Mark Schlereth” on 104.3 The Fan, the hosts made clear they have seen enough of it.

The conversation traced the evolution of the practice through its most-prominent practitioners — LeBron James and James Harden among the figures who turned it into something close to an artform. Today, that legacy lives on through stars like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose ability to draw fouls has become as central to his offensive game as his actual shot-making.

Shai flopped on every single shot attempt. pic.twitter.com/EGsbp3dUbT

— House of Lowlights (@HouseLowlights) May 21, 2026

Mike Evans took a stab at the players’ side of the equation first.

“Doesn’t part of you have some sort of pride that this is just not the way to play?” he asked.

It’s a fair question — coming from the idea that the world’s best players should want to win on the strength of their talent rather than the persuasiveness of their theatrics. But Schlereth quickly redirected the responsibility.

“To me, that’s on the league,” he said. “The league needs to step up and put the kibosh to it.”

That single sentence cuts to the heart of the issue. Players will always do what works. If theatrical contact is rewarded with free throws and bonus possessions, players will continue to lean into it. The behavior is the symptom, not the disease.

Schlereth made clear the problem isn’t confined to one or two repeat offenders.

“The superstars get away with it, so it’s endemic of the league in general,” he said.

It’s a system-wide failure of officiating philosophy. When the league’s marquee players are the ones receiving the most-generous benefit of the doubt, the entire integrity of the game suffers — because every other player in the league is watching, learning, and adjusting accordingly.

For all that, Schlereth refused to single out individual stars for behavior the league itself enables.

“I’m not gonna sit here and besmirch SGA because he’s doing something that the league says, ‘Yes, go ahead and lean into this,'” he said.

As long as the NBA continues to reward flopping with whistles, the players acting it out are simply responding to incentives — exploiting the rules as they’re being enforced. The fix doesn’t start with the players. It starts with the league finally deciding the product is worth more than the calls.

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