20 Athletes Who Bit on Legit Fake-Outs

Andre Iguodala is a great basketball player, but James Harden made him look absolutely silly with a dirty crossover during the Golden State Warriors' first-round playoff matchup with the Houston Rockets.

No one likes getting faked out in sports, but it happens to even the best of athletes. The offensive skill and/or presence of mind needed to pull off a truly impressive deception should be celebrated, or, at the very least, the plays are usually fun to watch. 

There has been an absurd amount of trickery this MLB season, and the NBA is always good for proverbial broken ankles and pump fakes. Spin-o-ramas, legendary jukes—you name it, it's here.

No disrespect is intended toward defenders or confused baserunners, because, frankly, it's hard to imagine anyone not falling for the following 20 ruthless fake-outs. 

To keep it fresh, the focus will be on 2016 with a few examples from late 2015 sprinkled in from the NFL and college football. (There aren't as many sick jukes in OTAs, apparently.)

Colby Rasmus

In an April game against the Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler displayed some savvy trickery on the diamond.

Astros outfielder Colby Rasmus occupied first base as teammate Tyler White skied an infield pop fly. Kinsler made like he was going to catch the ball for a routine out, but instead let it drop and tossed it over to second to force Rasmus out.

White was safe at first, but White is also not as fast as Rasmus—smart move. 

Gerard Pique

Barcelona's Lionel Messi humiliates defenders regularly—like, a lot. Even his own teammates are not immune to his footwork wizardry, as Barca defender Gerard Pique found out in April.

Messi pulled the most embarrassing of moves on Pique during a training session: the nutmeg.

You can't ever relax on Messi.

Andre Iguodala

The Golden State Warriors took care of the Houston Rockets, four games to one, in the first round of this year's NBA playoffs, but Rockets guard James Harden had his moments.

One notable instance came at the expense of Warriors guard/forward Andre Iguodala, who fell victim to a dirty crossover by Harden in Game 3. Iguodala turned all the way around just in time to watch Harden's jumper fall in.

Devan Dubnyk

The Dallas Stars ultimately lost to the St. Louis Blues in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, but a pretty goal from center Jason Spezza helped them advance that far.

In Game 1 of the first-round series against the Minnesota Wild, Spezza flew into a fast break, but instead of shooting outright, he beautifully faked a shot first.

The move worked, fooling Wild defender Matt Dumba and goalie Devan Dubnyk and ultimately leading to a score. 

Juan Uribe

Cleveland Indians infielder Juan Uribe was just minding his own business at second base when Cincinnati Reds infielder Brandon Phillips pretended to tag him.

The ball was nowhere near the vicinity, but Uribe—whose foot looked like it might have slipped slightly off the bag—jumped anyway, apparently terrified.

Morris Claiborne

Mike Stone/Getty Images

The pool of available material from the NFL in 2016 is smaller than some of its other sports counterparts, so let's go back to some sweet ankle-breaking courtesy of Julian Edelman in October's Week 5 meeting with the Dallas Cowboys.   

The New England Patriots wide receiver caught a short pass from Tom Brady and proceeded to drop Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne with a filthy juke.

Check it out.

Samir Handanovic

Sometimes all you need is a little stutter step to pull off a masterful fake.

Lazio defeated Inter Milan 2-0 in a Serie A matchup in early May. Forward Miroslav Klose scored one of the goals after a beautiful passing sequence with teammate Senad Lulic.

Klose and Lulic wove through the Inter defense, and Klose finished with a chip shot after throwing Lazio keeper Samir Handanovic off balance.

The call is great, too.

Yoenis Cespedes

New York Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes stood at first base as teammate Neil Walker lined a base hit into right field against the Washington Nationals last Thursday.

Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy didn't make the catch, but he pretended to throw to first anyway, just enough tomfoolery to keep Cespedes from advancing all the way to third base.

Cespedes did make it safely to second, but Murphy still got him good.  

Pekka Rinne

Check out this sweet goal from San Jose Sharks forward Joel Ward. In Game 1 of the Sharks' second-round series against the Nashville Predators, Ward took a pass from Joonas Donskoi, faked a shot and then slipped one past Predators goalie Pekka Rinne.

The Sharks went on to win the series in seven games.

LeBron James

In honor of Kobe Bryant's retirement, please enjoy this glorious pump fake the Mamba pulled on Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James in March.  

The former Los Angeles Laker might be 37 years old, but that was still some ruthless on-court deception right there. 

Carlos Ruiz

Baseball players are underrated pranksters.

In early May, Atlanta Braves outfielder Ender Inciarte acted like he couldn't find a fly ball hit by Philadelphia Phillies infielder Freddy Galvis.

The acting job was apparently good enough to fool Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz—who had been on first base—into believing Inciarte would not make the catch. Spoiler: He did. Double play.

Mississippi State Defense

The Alabama football team beat Mississippi State in November by a score of 31-6. Six of Bama's points came courtesy of freshman wide receiver Calvin Ridley.

His 60-yard touchdown run started with a short pass from quarterback Jake Coker, continued with a ridiculous juke on an MSU defender and culminated in reaching the end zone.

Ruthless. 

Kevin Martin

NBA MVP Stephen Curry has made a habit of embarrassing defenders with his brutal crossovers, but let's not forget about his teammates.  

For instance, Golden State Warriors forward Harrison Barnes left San Antonio Spurs guard Kevin Martin in the dust with a vicious fake in April. It was just mean (and awesome). 

Josep Sene

Every soccer fan knows the perfect rainbow is like a unicorn—incredibly rare and dazzlingly impressive.

Barcelona forward Neymar pulled off this feat in a February match against Celta de Vigo.

He duped two Celta defenders on the play, including No. 23 Josep Sene. All poor Sene could do was stand there. Barca went on to win 6-1.

Bostjan Nachbar

Here is a ridiculous fake courtesy of Spanish professional basketball.  

UCAM Mercia point guard Facundo Campazzo managed to fool Sevilla's Bostjan Nachbar (a former NBA player) by literally passing the ball around him.

It was glorious and absurd all at once, and Nachbar was probably (understandably) too confused to fight it.

Chase Marchand

John Quenneville of the Canadian junior hockey Brandon Wheat Kings scored a goal that was all kinds of awesome in the Memorial Cup.

Quenneville took a pass from teammate Ivan Provorov, then proceeded to kick up his skate and thread the puck through his legs before sending it past Rouyn-Noranda Huskies goalie Chase Marchand.

It was ruthless, all right, but Marchand shouldn't feel too bad. Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy called it the "goal of the year."

Leonys Martin

An out is an out, no matter what type of sham is used to achieve it.

In April, Seattle Mariners outfielder Leonys Martin led off at first base as shortstop Ketel Marte came to the plate with no one out in the top of the ninth. Martin ran on the play, and thus didn't fully realize where the ball was as Marte flied out to center.

Los Angeles Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons capitalized on the situation and pretended to field a double-play ball at second. Angels outfielder Mike Trout threw the ball over to first base to easily double off a confused Martin.  

Virginia Tech Defense

Braxton Miller's juke against Virginia Tech in October became legendary. Then playing as a wide receiver for Ohio State, Miller threw a filthy spin move on a VT defender and took it to the house for a 53-yard score. Poor guy didn't stand a chance.

ESPN called it the best juke of the entire college football season.

For those who'd like a 2016 update on Miller's deceptive moves, check out this gem from a Senior Bowl practice in January.

Shane Larkin

It's not your fault, Shane Larkin. That fake pass by Milwaukee Bucks guard Giannis Antetokounmpo was just that good.

Antetokounmpo, aka the Greek Freak, completely fooled the Brooklyn Nets guard with a masterful imitation dish in March.

Larkin looked the way of the pass and didn't appear to realize what was happening until the ball was in the hoop.

Jason Garrison

The spin-o-rama is no longer allowed in NHL shootouts or during penalty shots, but there's nothing stopping a player from pulling it in live-game action.

Detroit Red Wings center Andreas Athanasiou demonstrated that in April with a textbook spin-o-rama immediately followed by another glorious cutback. Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison was tragically fooled twice on the same play.

However, Garrison and the Lightning did go on to win the series 4-1.