Cavalier punished for flopping in win over Pistons

The Cleveland Cavaliers took down the conference-leading Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, thanks in part to 22 points from Jaylon Tyson and how well he defended MVP candidate Cade Cunningham. Tyson stepped up admirably on defense as he was physical at the point of attack and did a good job of shadowing Cunningham everywhere he went on the court.

There was, however, one exception to this.

The league office took offense at a second-quarter play where Tyson comically embellished some contact from Cunningham. Tyson threw his head back and staggered from just inside the free-throw line to the baseline, trying to get a call that didn’t come. Fortunately for the Cavs, Evan Mobley was there to provide a late contest.

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The league office deemed that Tyson’s embellishment of the contact rose to the level of a “flop.” He was fined by the league $2,000 on Wednesday evening. It’s worth noting that Tyson’s antics weren’t rewarded with an offensive foul in the moment.

It was a ridiculous flop from Tyson, but whether or not it was worthy of the $2,000 fine is up for debate. Tyson obviously oversold the call, but not in a believable way. Would he have been fined if he were slightly better at flopping? Is that the lesson here? And if so, is that what we should be enforcing?

Either way, it was still a great night for Tyson, who had a standout performance with his brother Jordyn, who’s getting ready to be a top pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, in attendance.

Tyson finished the game with 22 points on 5-12 shooting from three to go along with four assists and three rebounds.