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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may be exposing something bigger than flopping originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hits the floor repeatedly during NBA playoff games. Clips show him falling after shot attempts again and again.
Fans label him a flopper while opponents complain about his foul-drawing style. Do the actual tracking numbers back up that narrative?
Sportradar tracking data from the 2025 NBA playoffs tells a revealing story. Gilgeous-Alexander fell on 39 of his 224 postseason shot attempts.
That 17.4% fall rate leads all top scorers by a significant margin. On non-fouled shots, he hit the deck on 20 of 187 attempts at 10.7%.
James Harden posted an 8.7% fall rate in the same category this postseason. Jalen Brunson registered 7.9% while Donovan Mitchell came in at just 7.6%.
The gap grows wider when looking only at fouled shot attempts. Gilgeous-Alexander fell on 19 of his 37 fouled shots in the 2025 playoffs.
That rate exceeds 50%, and no other top scorer surpassed 30%. He fell more on fouled shots than Brunson, Mitchell, and Victor Wembanyama combined.
Wembanyama fell once on 164 non-fouled shot attempts for a 0.6% rate. The Spurs star praised "pure and ethical basketball" after beating Oklahoma City.
Gilgeous-Alexander also drops to the floor more often in the midrange area. He fell five times on non-fouled midrange shots while Brunson fell just once there.
The NBA has not fined Gilgeous-Alexander for any flopping this season. No player received the $5,000 flopping penalty during the entire 2024-25 campaign.
His 8.8 free-throw attempts per game rank 29th among players averaging 32 or more points. Gilgeous-Alexander dismissed the criticism with a very direct response.
"I don't care, not one bit,” he said. “I can't control how the refs blow the whistle ever."
Whether he flops or simply plays an aggressive attacking style, the tracking data clearly shows he hits the hardwood far more often than his peers.
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