Players in the NBA have perfected how to manipulate referees into making foul calls that benefit them on offense. Not only are they looking to bait defenders into making costly mistakes, but they are also looking to deceive referees into blowing the whistle for contact that seems more egregious than it is.
It is something that the NBA is attempting to crack down on. Teams have been given more leeway to play a physical brand of basketball on defense, as they are identifying some moves that will no longer draw calls from officials.
Certain players have made a living off of this. Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks, James Harden of the Los Angeles Clippers and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder have reputations as foul hunters.
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In the opinion of ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst, you can now add New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson to that list. During a recent episode of the Hoop Collective podcast, Windhorst called out Brunson as a foul hunter who just doesn’t have the reputation of someone such as Young or Harden.
“He doesn’t have the reputation of Harden or Trae Young, but he’s a foul hunter….he uses the dark arts. This is what the referees are cracking down on, the fouls that he gets sometimes are not what they’re going to give him,” Windhorst said about the Knicks’ NBA All-Star point guard.
We have seen a stark drop off in the free throw attempts Brunson has averaged per game as the season has worn on. In March, he averaged only 4.7 free throws per game, down from 7.6 per game in February.
While the NBA may be looking to crack down on some foul hunting, it has gone overboard with Brunson. He is getting hit on numerous occasions as opponents are playing more physically, going beyond the letter of the law more often than not, and not being penalized.
NBA NEWS & SCORES: Jalen Brunson, Trae Young, James Harden, New York Knicks Updates
As a smaller player, some of the contact will look worse against Brunson than a wing or big man. But contact is contact and he isn’t being rewarded for attacking the rim as some of his peers. Despite being an undersized guard, he lives in the paint and around the basket.
Against the San Antonio Spurs last week, Brunson scored a career-high 61 points. 30 of those points came in the paint yet he attempted only seven free throws in the game, routinely finishing through contact with no whistles.
NBA stars normally get a favorable whistle, but Brunson hasn’t reached that level in the eyes of the referees. He is not getting the respect he deserves as the overcorrection by the referees is costing Brunson on the court.
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