NBA Commissioner Adam Silver defended his drastic lottery reform “3-2-1” proposal, which is anticipated to be adopted by NBA owners on Thursday, on ESPN’s Pat McAfee show. But in the process, he became involved in the yearly discussion about refereeing in the NBA playoffs, which this year has centered on “flopping” and players who draw a lot of fouls and contact, especially on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder.
“Flopping has been a conversation..
There’s a difference between selling a call, exaggeration, and a true flop..
Officials can be fooled sometimes but our officiating is incredible” ~ Adam Silver #PrimetimeSports pic.twitter.com/V0XLwaTWjo
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 27, 2026
“It’s been a conversation. I would only say that there’s a difference between selling a call, exaggeration, and a true flop which is where you’re actually fooling the referees. I think sometimes, even as I sit in the stands at games, players may be falling down, players may be reacting to a call. But then to me, if they’re not fooling the referees, it’s like, ‘Okay. That’s like, the players are taught to sell calls these days.’ I mean, can officiating get better? Of course, we’re always working on that. Can officials get fooled occasionally? We’re always looking that as well. But the officiating is incredible.”
Officials and the league find it more and more difficult to draw that line.
As he sells a call, Gilgeous-Alexander drives the lane as well as anyone, absorbs contact, and gets his shot off—often by falling. SGA is the best at walking the fine line between flopping and selling a legitimate call by overstating contact. However, many players on the other 29 clubs engage in it to varied degrees, and supporters of other teams view it differently when their player engages in it.
Silver then discussed utilizing Hawkeye technology (similar to tennis) with AI to handle in-bounds and out-of-bounds calls in an effort to speed up the replay process and game flow.
