Plays ruled as flopping violations will result in a technical foul and free throw for the other team.

The NBA has introduced a new anti-flopping rule, which will be assessed using the STEM criteria: Secondary, Theatrical, Exaggerated, and Movement.

• Secondary: Any reaction after the initial contact that is intended to deceive the referees.
• Theatrical: Any over-the-top reaction to contact, such as flailing, falling, or reeling.
• Exaggerated: Any reaction that is clearly exaggerated, such as head snapping back or yelling in pain.
• Movement: Any unnecessary movement that is intended to sell the contact, such as rolling around on the ground or holding an arm or leg as if it is injured.

If a player is assessed with a flopping violation, they will be given a technical foul and the opposing team will be awarded a free throw.

Those plays will be signaled manually by a referee putting his hand on his shoulder, then extending that arm.

The whistle won’t blow and the violation won’t be assessed, actually, until the “first neutral opportunity.” In other words, the next available pause in the action to avoid interrupting any advantage the innocent team might have from the exaggeration.

For example: Picture a defender launching himself backward and flailing on the court trying to draw an imaginary charging foul. The ball handler will be allowed to continue his basketball maneuver, then the technical will be assessed and the free throw shot.

If the ball handler were to pause or back up, that’s when the play would be stopped.

“We’re not outwardly trying to punish or embarrass people,” McCutchen said. “We just want this part of the game (to) disappear.”

The intent is to get rid of the most outrageous instances of players, either offensively or defensively, reacting to basketball contact as if they’d gotten between Godzilla and his lunch.

More key details

• Technical fouls assessed for flopping violations are not considered unsportsmanlike and will not count toward the two-technical limit that triggers game ejection.
• Coaches are not permitted to challenge flop calls. However, if the referees are reviewing a play for another reason and find a flopping violation, they can assess the technical foul.

Will players screaming play a role?

Nope.

“Screaming will not factor into the decisions,” McCutchen said. “Do we think it’s going to be part of the theatrical and the exaggerated? Yeah, I do. There’s a visual component to this to our fans. The voices don’t pick up as much. So to try to regulate yelling and screaming, it wouldn’t translate to our fan bases very well, to be perfectly honest.”

In other words, it’s very rare that yelling is isolated from flailing, falling, reeling or rolling – that’s why movement is part of the STEM.

“Contact comes with [screaming] because they are trying to draw attention,” McCutchen said. “But I think we do a pretty good job – we don’t give in to [just] yelling a lot.”

How coaches are reacting

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said he is hopeful for a smooth transition to the new rule, while New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said he is concerned about how it will be applied to offensive players.

“It’s subjective – every foul is subjective,” Daigneault told NBA.com recently. “I thought [the implementation of] the transition take foul was a really smooth transition and I’m hoping for another smooth transition with this. You kind of knew it when you saw it with the take foul, and I think that will be the case with the flopping.”

Said Thibodeau: “It probably will be a little harder with flopping. Because everyone views it one way, the defense, but there’s a lot of offensive flopping too. I’m concerned about that. But I think the intent is good, to try to clean things up.”

Other new rules

The NBA has also added two other new rules or interpretations for the 2023-24 season:

1. Teams will now be allowed to challenge a call for a second time if they were successful on their first challenge.

2. The “rip-through” move will no longer be called as a foul if it is going away from the basket (i.e., toward the sideline or mid-court).