LeBron James calls out Trae Young for flopping during Lakers-Hawks game

By Ryan Ward
Updated: February 2, 2021

The Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks are battling it out at State Farm Arena, with the defending champions looking to end their long road trip on a strong note.

Early in this contest, Hawks star Trae Young tried to bait the referees into making a call on LeBron James. It was clearly a flop, and James was pretty vocal about the 22-year-old trying to force the call.

LeBron saying "he's flopping" after Trae tried to bait the ref into giving him a whistle on the drive. Credit to the ref, who didn't buy it

— Trevor Lane (@Trevor_Lane) February 2, 2021

Young came under fire recently when Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash called out the Hawks star for trying to draw fouls with some shady tactics. Nash didn’t think it was basketball and made that clear after the game.

"That's not basketball" – Steve Nash

Trae Young was drawing cheap fouls and Steve Nash was tired of seeing it, not being able to do anything about it. Coach Nash had to have a word with this ref. Talk heavy coach. #WeGoHard – @Keith_McPherson pic.twitter.com/tMEbkSD6Ga

— Talkin’ Nets (@TalkinNets) December 31, 2020

Scorers of Young’s caliber will always try to get crafty to get to the line or get opponents in foul trouble. He’s averaging 27.0 points per game and thought of as one of the NBA’s best scorers for a reason.

It’ll be interesting to see if the league takes issue with Young’s flop attempt. He could get issued a warning or be fined for trying to bait the referees.