Do You want to know why players still flop? Two reasons. Both evident in this case involving J.J. Redick.
First off, he was the offensive player, and he flopped on a wide-open jumper — and it worked. Kent Bazemore got called for the shooting foul, and he was three feet away. Players flop because officials fall for it. Sometimes you can understand how an official misses a call, if two guys are bumping into each other in real time, it can be difficult to pick out the flop. In this case, it was obvious. But Redick got the call anyway.
Second, there is no real punishment.
The league announced Friday that Redick officially has been warned about flopping for this incident. If he does it again this season, he gets a $5,000 fine. Redick is making $6.9 million this season. So that $5,000 fine is not exactly a deterrent. Certainly not more than the embarrassment of that shot.
