Appreciating The Biggest Basketball Flop Artists

Just like diving in football, flopping in basketball is considered a tactical play that can be beneficial for the team but is ultimately unethical and unsportsmanlike. A basketball flop is one of the most frustrating things for both the opposing players and their fans.

Over the years, the NBA has tried to put its foot down and discourage players from flopping by introducing rule changes, fines, and suspensions. But, these basketball flop artists have prevailed, carrying their craft to each following draft class.

So, instead of complaining about how flopping is ruining the integrity of the game, in this article, I’ll lock arms with the flop maestros and take a beat to appreciate their craft. In this week’s edition of Meme Mondays, let’s throw ourselves right into the topic and treasure the five biggest basketball flop artists in the game’s history.

Robert Horry

Robert Horry is the perfect role player any NBA superstar would wish for. With 7 NBA rings he won playing for the Rockets, Lakers, and Spurs, Big Shot Bob made countless clutch buckets to push his teams over the line when his teammates were struggling.

Unlike many other legendary floppers, Horry didn’t use this strategy very much during his early playing days. But, in his later career, fortunately, he became wiser and realized the real power and value of flopping. There aren’t many videos of Horry flopping on the Internet today. But, there is one egregious example of how high his ceiling for falling on the floor was:

Patrick Beverley

Patrick Beverley is a gold mine of meme-able moments and has built up a legacy that puts him close to the top on the Shaqtin all-time list. From his memorable Play-In celebration to him trash-talking Steph, saying the future is his, and overall being a very unusual dude with more bravado than his game warrants.

But, all of these roasting (facts) aside, Beverley is also regarded as a massive flopper. As a very aggressive defender, Beverley knows how to get under people’s skin. And, when he riles them up, he uses this to provoke them into committing a charge by flopping. We have to admit this is a low-key genius approach. However, it often goes out of hand:

Manu Ginobili

Manu Ginobili is often an underrated part of the Spurs dynasty. He sacrificed individual accolades for overall team success. In a hefty bag of tricks that included a beautiful Eurostep and a great hesitation move, Manu also hid another ruse that he liked to pull out at unexpected times.

At one point, Ginobili led a star-studded flopping cast featuring Parker, Bowen, Horry, and Oberto. This starting flop five could go toe to toe with any flop lineup and was disliked accordingly in the league at times.

Ginobili was such a great flopper that he made other floppers flop with him in contact. Don’t believe me? There are several videos of double flops involving Ginobili. Arguably the most famous one is the one involving another esteemed flopper in Raja Bell:

Bill Laimbeer

Known for his cheap shots and ethics of a street vendor in a Mumbai alley, it’s safe to say that Bill Laimbeer wasn’t ranking high in the likeability top lists during the 80s. Plus, as he was built like a fridge, Laimbeer was always a dreaded opponent. Players never knew when a fist or elbow would be coming their way.

Considering all this, you probably didn’t know that Laimbeer was a gentle soul who often found himself pushed around and on the floor. Many NBA players think that European players brought flopping to the NBA, but Laimbeer was doing it before it was cool.

Perhaps the best example of his flopping excellence is his masterclass in the 1990 NBA Finals. We often highlight the best performances and single-game achievements on our site. And Laimbeer’s iconic 12 non-shooting fouls drawn during Game 3 is a virtuoso performance that will echo in history:

Vlade Divac

From a promising young player on the Showtime Lakers to a trustworthy and reliable Kings veteran who gave the Lakers trouble in the early 2000s, Vlade Divac undoubtedly deserved his spot in the NBA Hall of Fame.

During his 16-year NBA career, Divac gave his all on the court. Perhaps he gave too much of himself, as we can see in many compilations on YouTube. As one of the most prominent pioneers of flopping in the NBA, Divac is widely regarded as the biggest basketball flop artist in NBA history.

Rightfully featured on the Mount Rushmore of Flopping, Divac had a spiritual approach to flopping, a sort of yin and yang if you get what I’m going for. In fact, he openly admitted that he usually flopped when he felt the refs missed calls and that he felt he was owed a call. So he flopped to restore the balance and keep everything equal.

During his career, Divac became so well known for flopping that he even received a tribute video from some of the biggest stars in the game at the time. Even the commissioner at the time, David Stern, chimed in. Take a look at this truly amazing tribute: