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At Least Joel Embiid Never Flopped So Bad That Lawyers Had to Get Involved, Unlike Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Matt Schultz

By Matt Schultz

Published:

May 26, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) reacts after a play during the third quarter against the San Antonio Spurs in game five of the western conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Paycom Center.
Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Joel Embiid may have a reputation as a foul grifter, but he’s never come close to the level Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just achieved. Through the Thunder’s current playoff run, SGA’s incessant falling, flailing, and head snapping has brought the idea of “ethical hooping” to the forefront of sports discourse. Everyone’s talking about it – including SGA’s lawyers.

After Underdog Sports released an Operation-like game titled “Unethical Hooper,” making fun of SGA’s foul baiting, the two-time MVP sicced his attorneys on the situation:

Tons of great stuff in this story. First off, as a firm believer in Noble & Righteous Basketball and a longtime hater of SGA’s flopping bullshit, I love that it came down to a spoof of a board game. He’s been acting like the unethical hoops chatter hasn’t been bothering him, that he “doesn’t really hear” San Antonio chanting “Flopper” every time he touches the ball:

But this story is showing SGA’s hand: He clearly cares a ton. He’s so annoyed by his flopping reputation, in fact, that he has lawyers to make people stop saying it. Little does he know… this is a bad idea! It’s only gonna make people roast him more! The name, image, and likeness claim is one thing, but the moment you let people know the chatter bothers you, the worse it’s gonna get. Everyone knows this.

And it’s already happening:

The other part of this story that’s really great: Joel Embiid has been fully replaced as the face of flopping in the NBA. The SGA flopping conversation is so deafening, so all-encompassing, that Joel might never be mentioned as a flopper again (Kinkead: Brunson, too). Everyone’s forgotten about it. Everyone’s moved on. All the heat has been redirected to SGA, and it’s a beautiful thing. Maybe history won’t even recall that for a while there, Joel was the primary target of unethical basketball allegations. Maybe that was just a blip on the radar, lost to time. Maybe it never even happened… A figment of our collective imagination, perhaps. A mere mirage…

Thank you, SGA, for taking up the mantle for our guy by becoming the most egregious flopper ever to play the game. Please don’t sue Crossing Broad because I said that.

Matt Schultz
Matt Schultz

Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…)

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