During the Los Angeles Lakers' victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, LeBron James infuriated the Fox Sports Southeast broadcast team (Pete Pranica and Brevin Knight) and Grizzlies Twitter ablaze with an epically shameless flop late in the second quarter.
The MVP frontrunner earned two free throws for the move, as the Lakers (21-6) gradually erased a 20-point deficit for the second straight game and pulled away from the Grizzlies, 115-105. James had 28 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists.
Sure, enough, the NBA agreed with Pranica and Knight’s outrage. On Saturday night, the league reportedly issued a warning to James (and Kyle Kuzma) for flopping.
LeBron James has received a warning from the NBA for violating the league’s anti-flopping rule on this play vs. the Grizzlies. https://t.co/O3L0wmeKFS
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) February 13, 2021
(If you’re wondering: the NBA’s official anti-flopping policy doles out a warning on a first offense, then increasing fines of $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, and $30,000 for each subsequent offense, with a possible suspension for a sixth instance.)
It’s not the first time in the past calendar year that LeBron James has irked Grizzlies fans with a flop. Last March, he gave a hilariously delayed overreaction to a swipe attempt from Brooks, earning plaudits from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
LeBron with the Oscar winning flop pic.twitter.com/NS88rkj7QZ
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) March 1, 2020
In fact, LeBron James’ history of flopping is fairly rich for one of the sport’s most dominant physical forces. In 2019, for instance, he played up a crash to the floor after a ghost foul in transition by Portland Trail Blazers forward Anthony Tolliver.
Terry Stotts is challenging LeBron's flop pic.twitter.com/hItZ7EyZYt
— NBC Sports Northwest (@NBCSNorthwest) December 29, 2019
Most of LeBron James’ flop history came during his tenure with the Miami Heat.
In 2013, Tom Thibodeau’s hard-nosed Chicago Bulls blasted LeBron James for his actions during a heated (pun intended) playoff series.
“From my angle, I just saw a guy flop,” Thibodeau bluntly stated after LeBron James’ reaction to a shove from Nazr Mohammed led to the center’s ejection.
“You see LeBron (James) in a lot of commercials, a lot of good acting,” Bulls guard Nate Robinson said at the time.
“M.J. would get fouled and he would just keep playing,” forward Taj Gibson told Yahoo. “That's old-school basketball.”
As I mentioned earlier on Saturday, most athletes across sports occasionally try and dupe referees to gain advantages, and understandably so. The stakes of professional sports are incredibly high, and every inch, point, or edge matters.
In that spirit, LeBron James defended the practice of flopping in 2013, during his prime acting days (unless you count 2015’s Trainwreck).
“It's year one, so you're not just going to go cold turkey,” LeBron James said about cutting back on flopping entirely after the league instituted its policy, via Yahoo. “Guys have been accustomed to doing it for years, and it's not even a bad thing. You're just trying to get the advantage. Any way you can get the advantage over an opponent to help your team win, then so be it.”
As a refresher, here are a few of LeBron James' greatest hits:
2010: Makes contact with Phoenix Suns big Earl Barron, gets shot:
2012 Eastern Conference First Round: LeBron James loses, yet wins, the loose-ball chase with then-New York Knicks guard J.R. Smith
2012 Eastern Conference Finals: LeBron James ricochets off Danny Granger
2012 Conference Finals: Trap Flop
LeBron James doesn’t nearly play up the flops as often as he did in his Miami Heat days, and the above infractions came in particularly high-stakes playoff games. Ironically, then-Indiana Pacers head coach Frank Vogel was fined $25,000 for complaining about James’ tactics in the 2012 playoffs.
LeBron James is more mature and savvier now, and he isn’t the egregious performance artist he once was. (In that sense, the Grizzlies flop from Friday is a throwback.)
And, in his defense, he’s not an every-play whistle-seeker like James Harden or Trae Young. At this stage of his career, the veteran dials up the theatrics four or five teams per season — to glaringly obvious effect. In actuality, his issues with officials seem to have only gained prominence in recent months.
On the other hand, it’s safe to estimate that the amount of calls LeBron James doesn’t get as a result of his unique combination of strength, skill, and athleticism significantly outweighs his flop rate.
Either way, hopefully, his performance in Space Jam: A New Legacy will be more convincing than at Staples Center on Friday.
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