Miami Heat point guard Mario Chalmers issued flop warning

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day wasn’t necessarily a positive holiday from a basketball standpoint for the Miami Heat, as the team dropped a road game at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks, and during that tilt, one of its starters put forth an action that caught the attention of the NBA.

Starting point guard Mario Chalmers has been issued a flop warning for his actions during the final seconds of Miami’s 7-point loss, and by all reasonable accounts, this one looks to be deserved. With his team trailing by 5 points with less than 20 seconds to go, Chalmers took what seemed to be a very light bump by Atlanta point guard Shelvin Mack and went flailing to the ground during a rebounding situation. No foul was called on the play (rightfully so), and that was the action that prompted the NBA’s warning.

As usual, the “first offense” against the league’s anti-flopping rule carries a warning, but each subsequent violation will illicit a fine for Chalmers. It has actually been a pretty solid season for the 27-year-old point guard, as he has a league-average PER of 15.03 with nearly 38% shooting from beyond the arc, and more than 5 assists per game. Still, the video says it all in this case, and given the timing of the flop, it was a pretty lackluster attempt by Mario.