Flopping Is So Engrained into Joel Embiid's DNA That He's Doing it At The Free Throw Line

If you just treat Joel Embiid playing basketball as if he's doing one long bit. Like the basketball court is simply a place for him to perform a couple hours of high comedy in front of 20,000 angry fans. Fans who aren't there to see comedy at all, and are often furious about what they're witnessing, which for me personally makes the comedy even greater. It makes watching him play very enjoyable. 

It's like watching a wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-flailing-tubeman play basketball. Truly one of a kind. It's special to see. 

I'm not exactly sure what I'm seeing Embiid do here at the free throw line. But it would be irresponsible to not jump to the conclusion that Joel Embiid has become so committed to the flop... that flopping is so engrained in his DNA... that now even at the free throw line, when Embiid has the slightest inkling that a shot might not be going in (he made that free throw btw), his knees buckle and his arms shoot up to the sky like he's been got by a sniper from the rafters. 

It's muscle memory at this point. Embiid is more flop than man. Shot looks off = pretend you're being assaulted by a ghost. To his credit, it usually works. As far as NBA refs are concerned, it's a perfectly acceptable method of scoring. It starts at the top really. LeBron James, the greatest basketball player of our generation, is as big of an offender as any. But Embiid has really established himself as the GOAT flopsman in the association. It's a delight to watch.