NBA implements permanent flopping penalty

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 trialed during the 2023-24 campaign. Now permanent, when a referee calls a flop, the player who committed the act will be given a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul. The opposing team gets to shoot one free throw, with any player who was on the floor at the time of the flop eligible to take the shot. Flopping violations will not 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 November 12.

Point differential and total points are the second and third tiebreakers, respectively, in the group stage of the in-season tournament.