NBA officials made such a stupendously bad flop call against the Knicks they had to apologize for it

We are so back, folks. Flopping is already tearing the league apart. It’s fantastic.

The NBA refs Twitter account essentially issued an apology to Knicks fans today for calling a flop on Jalen Brunson against the Celtics on opening night at MSG.

Brunson shot a 3-pointer late in the game that was contested by Jayson Tatum. Tatum closed out on Brunson and got into his landing space, which knocked Brunson down. Usually, that’s called a foul. And, occasionally, officials will check to see if it’s a flagrant foul.

This time, it was a flop. Yes. That’s right. A FLOP.  Take a look.

This was a technical on Jalen Brunson… sorry?? pic.twitter.com/eWnwAIUBdQ

— Teg (@IQfor3) October 26, 2023

Officials ruled this reaction from Brunson as “secondary and theatrical,” which is new. It’s part of the league’s new policy cracking down on flops.

So instead of the Knicks getting three free throws in the late moments of a three point game, the Celtics got to shoot a technical free throw and got the ball back.

That call was just so clearly wrong. It was so wrong that the refs apologized for it the next day. The NBA Refs account posted this about the play.

We missed the foot to foot contact which should have resulted in a personal foul and reviewed for flagrant. Had no foot to foot contact existed, this type of secondary and theatrical movement by Brunson would meet the criteria for a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul for… https://t.co/aPZJiARfiS

— NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) October 26, 2023

“Had no foot to foot contact existed, this type of secondary and theatrical movement by Brunson would meet the criteria for a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul for flopping. It is possible to have a foul and a flop on the same play, but the foot to foot contact is what causes Brunson’s movement and no flop should have been called.”

Translation: Whoops! Our bad, y’all.

This play didn’t exactly lose the Knicks the game. But, uh, it kind of lost them the game. So, of course, fans didn’t want to hear any of it.