Jaren Jackson Jr. was not at all slick during Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Memphis Grizzlies All-Star Jackson had an embarrassing flop in the third quarter of his team’s eventual 134-127 loss to the Lakers. Jackson was attempting to rotate defensively to contest a corner three-point shot by Lakers guard Gabe Vincent when he was lightly pushed by LeBron James. In response, Jackson theatrically fell to the deck, right in front of an official (referee crew chief Tyler Ford).
Ford was not fooled by Jackson’s pathetic sell job, and immediately blew the whistle to give Jackson a technical foul for flopping.
While Vincent missed the three-pointer, the Lakers still managed to get points on that possession thanks to the one-shot technical foul on Jackson. As a result, they took a 102-99 lead into the fourth quarter and were able to hang on for their 45th victory of the year.
Although the league has been regularly evaluating retroactive flopping Ts this season upon postgame review, players rarely receive on-the-spot technicals for flopping these days. Less than two years have passed since the first in-game technical for flopping was released, and since then, they have primarily been distributed seldom.
There was undoubtedly some irony in the situation involving Jackson, the former NBA Defensive Player of the Year. After making (very little) touch with (of all people) James, who has a very long history of flopping, he flipped.
