Foul-baiting has been a hot topic in the NBA throughout the 2024-25 season. The discussion has ramped up during the playoffs with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Brunson, considered the best two at it, playing in the conference finals.
Philadelphia 76ers’ guard Jared McCain recently talked about foul-baiting and how Joel Embiid approaches it.
Jared McCain Says Joel Embiid Considers Foul-Baiting ‘Smart’
Embiid has been one of the most fouled players in the NBA since he entered the league in 2014. In the 2021-22 season, he led the league in shooting fouls drawn with 371, and was second the following year with 354. The big man only played in 19 games this season, drawing 77 fouls, but he’s a proponent of foul-baiting, according to McCain.
The logic behind foul-baiting makes sense; use your body to create contact with the defender and sell it in order to draw a foul. It doesn’t make for the best basketball to watch, but it’s smart to increase your chances of at least shooting two free throws if not getting an and-one opportunity.
McCain only played in 23 games as a rookie after suffering a meniscus tear early in the season. He drew 25 shooting fouls in his shortened season and could become the next foul-baiter based on his comments during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Legion Hoops tweeted a video of McCain watching Brunson draw a foul on T.J. McConnell and was asked, “Do you think that’s foul-baiting right there?”
“It’s just smart,” he responded. “It’s just smart. Foul-baiting is just smart. Even when I talk to Joel [Embiid] about it, he thinks it’s just playing the game smart. Knowing how to manipulate the game in your own way. They have to call it. If it’s a foul, it’s a foul.”
Jared McCain:
“Foul-baiting is just smart. Even when I talk to Joel Embiid about it, he thinks it's just playing the game smart.”
(via @BleacherReport, h/t @ClutchPoints)pic.twitter.com/3KJxJyxNYx
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops)
Brunson is one of the NBA’s masters at drawing fouls with his shifty play and willingness to use his body. He was only tied for the 14th-most fouls drawn in the regular season at 177, but he’s drawn the ire of fans for relying on it at times during the playoffs.
In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Brunson had his own foul trouble to deal with, but tried to draw fouls up until the end of the 138-135 overtime loss.
Gilgeous-Alexander is on another level of foul-baiting. The recently named MVP was second in the league with 280 fouls drawn in the regular season. Giannis Antetokounmpo was first with a whopping 353, but that can be attributed to his size and playing in the paint.
Neither player will apologize for foul-baiting if it gets their teams a win. Gilgeous-Alexander’s Oklahoma City Thunder are three wins away from the NBA Finals, and Brunson’s New York Knicks will look to rebound in Game 2 against the Indiana Pacers. If drawing more fouls leads to wins, so be it, according to these two.
