Unwritten rules exist everywhere, yet they are broken many times.
Basketball, like life itself, has unwritten rules. Whether you like these rules, hate them, or don't really feel anything towards them, those rules exist.
Here are a some of the game’s so-called unwritten rules:
1. You don’t commit a dirty foul on someone when they have gone airborne. Do this thing, colloquially called "sahod," and you will earn the ire of other ballers.
2. When your teammates fall down, you’ve got to go over and help them get back up.
3. In random shootarounds, a player gets to have two shots. They will shout "Bek!" after the first shot, and you have to pass the ball back.
But perhaps, the most hotly contested informal bylaw is the one that says, you have to let the last few seconds run out if the game is clearly out of reach. Apparently, trying to score or worse, busting out a thunderous dunk in these end-of-game situations is an act of disrespect.
This has caused a scene in the NBA through the years. Recently, it happened again.
Zion Williamson uncorked a 360 windmill slam with about 3 ticks left to make it a 128-119 Pelicans victory over the Suns. This caused a commotion on the floor as several Phoenix players, led by Cam Payne and Chris Paul, wanted to confront Zion. In the end, the situation deescalated, but the players involved had to defend their positions afterwards.
"I felt like there was just no sportsmanship, and we don't really like that. We do the right thing. I felt like they should've done the right thing, and they didn't.”, Payne said.
“I got carried away. I admit that... If they were to do the same thing, I wouldn't have no problem with it.", Zion explained.
Coming to Williamson’s defense were former Pelican JJ Redick, and current teammate CJ McCollum.
“For every paying customer, probably at the top of their list of what they hoped to see that night, if it wasn’t the Pelicans win, was an insane Zion dunk, and they got their wish.”
“They gotta get back on defense if they don’t want us to dunk the ball,” McCollum commented.
Now that you know both sides of the story, we ask you this: Do you want this unwritten rule to stay or would you rather see it go away?