James Harden may be the best shooting guard in the NBA, but he is also gunning for the top spot on another list: the league’s most blatant flop artist.
Harden has some stiff competition. Dwyane Wade, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and LeBron James all have some pretty impressive flopping skills — and that’s just on the Heat and Clippers. If Harden keeps contributing flops like the one he committed Saturday, however, he could be the undisputed champ in no time.
In a meeting of two masters of the embellishment, Harden and Griffin came within a zip code of each other after Harden rebounded his own miss in the fourth quarter on Saturday. As Griffin lightly defended Harden near the baseline, Harden suddenly toppled over like he had been shoved. An incredulous Griffin was whistled for a foul.
The NBA has viewed the replay and come down with a ruling, and let’s just say the league is not impressed with Harden’s acting job. Harden was handed a $5,000 fine for flopping, his second such offense this season.
Check out the play in question in the video below.
