James Harden Earns First Official Flopping Fine of the 2013-14 NBA Season
James Harden will never learn.
Fresh off his first flopping warning of the season against the Portland Trail Blazers, the NBA announced it has fined Harden $5,000 for flopping again, this time against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Footage of the flop can be seen below:
This one was incredibly obvious, more blatant than the one that drew him his initial warning. Ironically, it also came against a fellow flopper.ย
Blake Griffin has become notorious for his flop-tastic waysย and has now been victimized by his own craft. He must be furious. Well, maybe he's laughing by now.
Though six total players (including Harden) have been cited by the NBA for flopping, the bearded wonder is the first of anyone in the league to get hit twice and receive a subsequent fine, per Kurt Helin of Pro Basketball Talk:
As NBA.com's Jeff Caplan notes, Harden is only seven games into his season and already $5,000 in the hole:
What we also cannot fail to acknowledge is that Harden has now been caught twice in three games. Consider this my plea for flopping to become a legitimately recognized and measured statistic, then.
Assuming he flops twice for every seven appearances going forward, Harden would close out the year with about 23 total flops.ย In other words, if he keeps flopping at this rate, he'll be suspended and without any party funds for the weekend.
If he gets caught flopping again,ย Harden will be penalized $10,000 for his third offense. Then it's $15,000 for a fourth flop. After that, it increases to $30,000 for a fifth before resulting in possible suspension and further fines following a sixth.
Before taxes, the NBA's $5,000 fine accounts for under 0.04 percent of Harden's $13,701,250 salary.ย
Worry not, then, as it seems Harden's weekend won't ever be negatively impacted by a flop or five.
