Former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Iman Shumpert recently took some time to reflect on a controversial play that involved him and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
During the play in question, Curry was called for a foul on Shumpert, but Shumpert caused some fans to roll their eyes after he put on a bit of a show to draw the call.
Is this SELLING or FLOPPING ? 😠pic.twitter.com/HeVkUGyYOC
— Maxisnicee (@maxisnicee) September 28, 2023
According to Shumpert, he didn’t flop to draw the call — he merely sold it to make it clear that he had been grabbed.
The hip grab was the foul. Show whole clip, I sold it by jumping cuz I missed my jump to catch the pass. #thelightskinman https://t.co/2ZLzEGu5ZN
— Iman. (@imanshumpert) September 29, 2023
Shumpert spent parts of four seasons with the Cavs and certainly made some lifelong memories along the way.
Of course, he likely remembers his Cleveland stint best for the organization’s run to the 2016 NBA title against Curry and the Warriors.
He played a notable role for that iteration of the Cavs, averaging 24.4 minutes per game during the 2015-16 regular season.
In the 2016 playoffs, he saw slightly less playing time, but he was still on the floor often enough to make an impact. Across 17.5 minutes per game in the playoffs, he averaged 3.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per contest while shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from deep.
During his entire Cavs stint (a total of 182 regular season games), Shumpert averaged 6.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
The 33-year-old last played in the NBA in the 2020-21 campaign for the Brooklyn Nets. While he hasn’t officially announced his retirement from the league, it seems like he may have already played his last NBA game.
Shumpert was originally a first-round pick by the New York Knicks back in 2011, and while he never really turned into a star at the NBA level, he certainly checked some impressive boxes along the way and was a solid role player at some of his stops.
If his time in the NBA is indeed over, he’ll always be able to look back on his Cavs stint fondly. Perhaps Curry, who’s still active these days and trying to win his fifth league championship with the Warriors, will respond to Shumpert’s comments about the controversial foul call years ago.
