Tyrese Haliburton Makes Bold Claim About NBA Players Flopping
Throughout the NBA regular season and playoffs, flopping has been a common complaint among fans, who feel that it makes the product less entertaining as players get away with it.
In particular, the Oklahoma City Thunder and their star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, have borne the brunt of that criticism as they face the San Antonio Spurs in a tough Western Conference Finals.
That’s prompted various sports analysts and basketball stars to weigh in on the topic, including the Indiana Pacers‘ Tyrese Haliburton, who sat out the past NBA season after suffering a brutal torn Achilles tendon in last year’s NBA Finals.
On “The Dan Patrick Show,” Haliburton explained that flopping is part of most players’ basketball skill sets as they enter the NBA.
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“It’s for sure being taught. I don’t think head coaches are, but it’s a part of player development before you get to the NBA. It’s something you kind of work on by nature … the best scorers are the guys that get to the free throw line the most. So it’s definitely something they work on, even in pick up,” he revealed.
“It’s now a part of the game,” Haliburton said during his video chat on ESPN’s show.
Haliburton didn’t name any specific players during that part of his response on “The Pat McAfee Show,” but SGA remains the player under the spotlight.
In the Thunder’s Game 5 win over the Spurs in Oklahoma City, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with a game-high 32 points. Half of those points came at the free throw line, where he was 16 of 17.
Those weren’t necessarily all from flopping, either. In addition, SGA also has his share of stars and analysts defending him, including Reggie Miller and Richard Jefferson, both of whom are watching the games and working as commentators on NBA broadcasts.
In other Western Conference Finals games, SGA shot fewer free throws, even in Spurs’ wins, which showed the Thunder can win games without any potential flopping.
In addition to mentioning the revelation about players flopping, Haliburton also praised the NBA referees, saying he usually tells them how much he misses them after playing in international games for FIBA or the Olympics and experiencing that style of officiating.
Game 6 arrives on Thursday night in San Antonio at 8:30 p.m. ET, with all eyes on the Spurs to see if they can overcome SGA and the Thunder to force a decisive Game 7.
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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 8:05 AM.