OAKLAND, Calif. — Reggie Evans has made history.
Evans, who was one of the main subjects of the NBA’s preseason instructional video about the new flopping rules, has become the first player to be fined for flopping under the new anti-flopping policy.
The Nets’ backup power forward was fined $5,000 after he committed his second flop of the season in the third quarter of Tuesday night’s 95-90 loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles, when he clearly exaggerated contact from Lakers forward Metta World Peace.
“It’s a tough spot for us, because Reggie sets physical screens, he rebounds, and I don’t necessarily consider him a flopper,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said before last night’s game here against the Warriors. “I don’t see him flopping in practice, he just plays hard and goes all out. It’s just a tough one. Hopefully he won’t be a marked man, even if there is a physical confrontation out there on the floor, that they won’t consider it flopping.”
As Evans and World Peace were running down court, World Peace put his hand on Evans’ side, only for the burly power forward to throw up his hands and fall out of bounds. Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni leapt up from his seat immediately after a foul was called on World Peace, yelling, “That was a flop!”
“Congratulations to Reggie,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said, tongue firmly in cheek. “He’ll go down in history.
“For $5,000, [to get] a place in history? That’s not bad. That’s not bad at all.”
Evans had already been warned for flopping in the second quarter of the Nets’ 102-97 win over the Celtics at home on Nov. 15. That time, he got tangled up with Celtics rookie forward Jared Sullinger, then snapped his head back and fell to the ground when Sullinger’s elbow came within a foot of his head but didn’t hit him.
Under the flopping rules the league put into place this season, players get one warning, and then are fined for each flop after that. After the league has determined that a player has flopped five times — with the fine for the fifth time being $30,000 — any subsequent flops are “subject to discipline reasonable under the circumstances, including an increased fine and/or suspension.”
Evans was the first player shown in the NBA’s instructional video that it released before the season began to show what would constitute a flop under the new rules.
Evans, identified as “No. 30 in the white uniform,” was shown exaggerating contact while playing for the Clippers against the Grizzlies in Game 6 of the first round of last season’s Western Conference Playoffs.