The NBA Needs To Get Its Shit Together

The NBA has a major problem right now that is ruining the sport we all love. I'm not even being dramatic when I say that, it's the truth. Look at that play by Steph. That's not basketball. It's not the first time we've seen him do it either, and he is most certainly not the only player that does something like this. In fact, you're not crazy to suggest this is something that every NBA player now does. It's not on them to change, they know it will get a foul call. All they are doing is manipulating the game while following the current rules/how things are called.

You hear all the time about how guys like Luka and Trae are ruining the league for doing shit like this

There are millions of plays just like this from basically every player in the league. The thing is, until the league steps up and decides enough is enough, this is going to continue to happen. It's going to show up in a huge playoff moment, you just know it will. What confuses me is I was under the impression that they made the rule change about jumping forward into a defender as a shooter a long time ago. Why does it suddenly feel like that change no longer exists? Also, who the fuck even knows what is a shooting foul when this happens. Half the time it's called on the floor despite guys going into their shooting motion. There is no consistency whatsoever. That's inexcusable.

It's no secret that the NBA cares about their product. It's why they fine people for egregious flopping. Well, they need to send a message with this type of play. Call it an offensive foul and players will do it less often. Give them fines after the fact the same way they do when they review flops. Get the message to your officials that this is not something they should be calling a foul on the defender. The refs enable it, so obviously the players take advantage. That's why I don't see this as a player issue, I see this as a league/official issue. They determine how a game is called and what refs put certain emphasis on so this is entirely on Adam Silver. It takes one phone call to get this shit out of the league. What's stopping him?

Because all this does is make people want to stop watching your league. I don't blame them. It's bullshit. It's not basketball and it is a play that we are seeing directly impact games. Playing defense in the NBA is hard enough with how much the rules have changed to give offensive players an advantage, letting shit like this repeatedly happen makes it damn near impossible. Offensive players should not be bailed out for doing this. Period. I don't care if you're Steph Curry or some scrub off the bench. There is a different between giving an upfake and playing into contact and plays like you see above. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know it when you see it.

This might be the only thing that Basketball Twitter collectively agrees on, that's how bad it is. That's when you know there needs to be a change. Doesn't matter what fan base you are, everyone wants this shit out of the league. Until the league makes that happen, people will continue to turn it off.