Austin Rivers got ejected over a phantom elbow to Lance Stephenson's face and NBA fans were baffled

Remember back in the day when the NBA fined players for flopping? Yeah, feels like a long time ago, right?

That’s because it has been. The last player to be fined for a flop was Marcus Smart back in 2020. Before that it was Patrick Beverley back in 2019. And those are the only two flopping penalties we’ve seen dished out to players in 6 years. SIX. YEARS.

That should probably change very soon. Because, after what happened in the Nuggets’ game against the Pacers on Wednesday, Lance Stephenson should be getting another fine in the mail soon.

Austin Rivers was ejected for delivering an elbow to Stephenson’s face. Except…he didn’t actually hit Stephenson. He just flopped.

There was literally no contact between the two of them. Stephenson just jerked his head back a bit and it looked like he did. Yet still, somehow, Rivers was ejected from the game after a review. It doesn’t make a ton of sense.

I guess one could argue that maybe Rivers was faking throwing an elbow here to free up some space? Tony Brothers called it a “malicious act.”

Rivers, of course, was incredulous. He even tweeted about it after the game.

Honestly, it’s hard to blame him in this situation. It’s hard to see a malicious act being committed when there was no contact made. It gets especially hard when you consider Stephenson’s history of exaggerating contact — the Pacers still lead the league in flop fines because of him.

NBA fans were so confused by this call.

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