Ja Morant Will Appeal Flopping Technical Foul

Portland Trail Blazers star Ja Morant says he plans to appeal the technical foul he received for flopping at the end of their 136-129 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night.

Morant was one of three players to receive technical fouls for flopping. Toumani Camara of Portland and Ziaire Williams of Los Angeles were the other two players to receive them.

Both teams were upset, but the Trail Blazers and head coach Micah Nori were especially upset about how the referees handled the situation.

“Good job by the NBA. Point of emphasis. Great job. There were (71) free throws,” said the head coach, who was upset at how involved the referees were in the outcome. It was a tense, chippy game regardless, but the flopping calls seemed unnecessary, according to the players, given how easily everything else was called.

The NBA introduced the flopping technical foul rule in 2023. It seems players needed a season to learn the new rule. The exact numbers are disputed, as it is not a stat the NBA tracks, but there were many calls at the start of the first season the rule was introduced, and last year they were less frequent. Nori noted how unusual it was to have three flopping technicals in one game, when there were only “27 flops called last year in 2,000 games total,” as Nori quoted.

This is even more the reason why players were upset: why are three being called in one game when 27 were made in the prior year?

After the game, Morant was upset about the call, saying he took a bump to the chest. “I’ll try and appeal it,” Morant said.