Officiating has been a big talking point in the Western Conference Semifinals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers have felt aggrieved, with head coach JJ Redick claiming LeBron James has the worst whistle of any star player he has ever seen.
Redick’s comments came to Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green’s attention, and he disagrees with them. Green made it clear on The Draymond Green Show that his teammate Stephen Curry has it worse than James.
“The only thing I can say to that is, has he ever watched Steph Curry play?” Green said. “And is Steph Curry considered a star player? Because I got nothing but love for Bron, but if Steph Curry is a star player, which I think he is, no one gets a worse whistle than Steph Curry.”
Curry is statistically the greatest free-throw shooter in NBA history at 91.2%. The 12-time All-Star doesn’t make too many trips to the line, though.
Curry has averaged just 4.3 free throw attempts per game in his 17-year career. The most free throw attempts the two-time MVP has averaged in a single season is 6.3 in 2020-21. He was at 5.1 in 2025-26, and that is good enough for fourth-most in his career.
Now, of course, some of this is down to Curry’s style of play. The 38-year-old has led the league in three-pointers attempted per game in nine of his 17 seasons. When you’re doing most of your damage from behind the three-point line, you aren’t going to find yourself near the top of the pile for free throws.
Still, Curry does deserve more calls than he gets. There are plenty of times when he has gotten hammered, but there’s no call. Jimmy Butler couldn’t quite believe what he was witnessing up close after he was traded to the Warriors in February 2025. Butler said he hadn’t seen anyone get fouled as often as Curry does. That is a bit of a stretch, but you get the sentiment.
As for why Curry doesn’t get calls, Green once gave an explanation on his show.
“He don’t talk to the referees, and he gets penalized for that,” Green said. “I also think he gets penalized because he is not a flopper. And so, it’s almost as if, ‘Oh, he not getting fouled,’ or, ‘It don’t matter because he ain’t showing that he getting fouled.’ I think in this league, we reward flopping.
“We put a flopping rule in that you never see get called,” Green added. “But we reward flopping and flailing, and Steph does neither. It doesn’t really hurt him because he still do what he do, but it hurts him as far as getting the call and getting to the free throw line because he don’t flop and he don’t sell the calls.”
Green is far from the only one who has brought this up. Flopping is indeed rewarded in the NBA, and Curry has never been a flopper. He isn’t going to turn into one at this stage either, and will continue to be penalized for it.
