Paul George had a historic debut with the Boston Celtics on Tuesday that later earned another notable footnote.
George, 36, tallied 38 points in Boston’s 121-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons, setting a franchise record for most points scored in his Celtics debut. Additionally, he shot 7-of-12 on 3-pointers, passing Kyle Korver for eighth among the NBA’s all-time 3-point shots made.
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Later in the evening, George drew the season’s first fine for flopping on a fourth-quarter collision at midcourt with Detroit’s Duncan Robinson. No call was made during the game, but the league issued a $2,000 fine after reviewing the play.
The postgame penalty was part of the NBA’s emphasis this season to crack down on “STEM” violations — or Secondary, Theatrical, Exaggerated Movements attempting to draw foul calls.
“It’s just something that we’ve seen that doesn’t present well in-game, live or on TV, and it’s not the fabric of NBA competition,” NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations James Jones said in a statement issued by the league. “We’re going to take a really hard stance on flopping. It’s something that we’ll look at more so than anything.”
NBA senior vice president and head of referee development and training Monty McCutchen clarified that the exaggerated effort to get a call is what will earn fines from the league, not necessarily the attempt to draw a whistle.
“A flop is not merely trying to entice a call. It has to be secondary, theatrical and exaggerated movement,” he said. A lot of these embellishments won’t have that STEM – secondary, theatrical, exaggerated movement – and thus would be legal.”
“Creating a perception of something that you know not to be true, that is separate and needs to be penalized,” he added.
Under the new initiative, if a player is called for flopping in a game, he will receive a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul and the opposing team gets a free throw. But if the flop is not called during the game, as in George’s case, the league can issue a decision after reviewing the play.
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Players who continue to get punished for flopping will draw an increased amount for a fine and could be issued a one-game suspension after six or more flopping penalties.
George was last fined for flopping during the 2023-24 season while with the Los Angeles Clippers, according to Spotrac. During his previous 16 NBA seasons, he’s been fined a total of $300,000. That does not include $11.7 million he was docked for being suspended for 25 games without pay last season for violating the league’s anti-drug program.
