It's not what the rules are; it's what you can get away with. Such an aphorism has defined the games of memorable, even great, players. If you cheat successfully, it isn't really cheating. And history is written by the victors, so winning by any means is usually worth it.
Since the NBA game moves fast, referees miss a lot. Refs are rigorously trained, but professional athletes are trained to make a mockery of such training. Fans carp about flopping, but flopping is just one aspect of the rampant deceit out on the hardwood. Little lies and secrets permeate the action, so much so that it's difficult to know where the fair play ends and the cheating begins.
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Tim Duncan has been getting away with the same thing for as long as I can remember. It's integral to his basketball identity, which might be why it's ignored.
LeBron James breaks the rules out in the open, but does it so infrequently as to not make waves. It's not integral to his basketball identity, and that's why it's ignored.
The game within the game is about gaming the system itself, finding every marginal advantage to leverage in spite of the rules. As teams look in every nook, cranny and Sports Vu camera for an edge, the players pursue the same task with their bodies.
LeBron James' foot fault
James
When LeBron James goes haywire from the line, he can bend the rules to break the slump.
As Brian Windhorst has detailed, James will go through these periods of leaning heavily toward the hoop on his free throws so as to reduce the distance between shot and basket. To prevent a face-first fall, LeBron's foot crosses the line before the ball reaches the basket.
This is a violation, but not one that refs are especially concerned with. I suspect that James deploys the strategy judiciously, because a constant lane violation would attract attention. It all fits in with the analytical fastidiousness that would define LeBron's style, were we not so wowed by those awesome dunks.
Tim Duncan's fundamentally sound left hand
Duncan
No, it's not Tim Duncan's incredulous eye bulge cowing refs into calling things his way. Instead, it's Duncan's sneaky left arm, committing unseen fouls in pivotal, climatic moments.
When a player drives toward the Spurs' big man, you're liable to see Duncan take a pool cue poke at the ball. Unlike some other defenders, Timmy doesn't fear getting dunked on so much. He stands his ground and confronts the driver.
Some of that confrontation occurs away from the shot release. While refs (and everyone else) watch for whether Duncan's block hits ball or hand, Tim's left arm nags the opponent. That sticky left hand trolls for leverage, either holding a leaper down or nudging him off-kilter.
Apparently, officials are too transfixed by the ball to see this. Considering that Tim Duncan's tattoo is of Merlin the Wizard, it's fitting that he casts invisible spells on his enemies.
Chris Paul's multipurpose left hand
Paul
Much like Tim Duncan, Chris Paul's left arm is a thief cloaked behind the curtain of a moving basketball. On the rare occasions when an opposing big man hedges out to confront Chris Paul off a screen, CP3 will practically hug his opponent with that off arm while hypnotizing us with a dribble that looks like a futuristic yo-yo. This allows Paul to spin off his defender like a merry go-round pole, while also delaying that defender from racing back to cover the rim. This is quite the two-fer: Paul makes a slow big man even slower while using him as a slingshot.
In general, Paul deploys his off-hand like a LaDainian Tomlinson stiff arm. He's just so subtle and so quick with the separation that it seems to fit with all the other legal, masterful aspects of his game. Keeping (or shoving) the defense at bay has helped Paul to maintain a low 2.4-turnover average over his career.
Roy Hibbert's stone feet
Hibbert
The Indiana Pacers have the best defense in basketball, but there's a catch: Indiana's bigs ignore the defensive 3-seconds rule, almost entirely.
Roy Hibbert is an especially egregious transgressor, and he almost has to be. Once outside the paint, the big man waddles with the slowness of a penguin in mud. Near the rim, he's a fearsome shot-blocker, as his hand speed and reflexes are much faster than his feet.
Perhaps Hibbert and Ian Mahinmi get away with these defensive 3-seconds because it's so constant as to be imperceptible. Similar to how Pat Riley's Knicks teams karate-chopped opponents under the presumption that refs would get inured to the violence, the Pacers hope to set their own paradigm on D.
Defensive 3-seconds probably should be legal anyway, but it's not, and the Pacers are pretending it is.
Kevin Durant's flail flop
Durant
There had to be at least one flop on the list, right?
Like LeBron James and Chris Paul, Kevin Durant is a basketball genius who would be great even without shenanigans. The league even reduced the reward for KD's patented rip-through move, and Durant responded by only getting better.
So, while Durant doesn't make his living flopping, he also happens to be quite good at it. I would even argue that the skill with which Durant flops is illustrative of the coordination and wisdom exhibited in other facets of his game.
My favorite kind of KD flop is the one he does in response to losing the ball. If Durant has a weakness, it's that his gangly arms can lose track of the rock at top speed on his drives. When this happens, Durant turns a negative into a positive instantaneously.
As the ball flies loose, KD whips his arms back like Leonardo DiCaprio on the Titanic's bow. In the blur of action, it looks like Durant's been fouled. Give KD credit for his reflexes and his awareness. A lot goes into Kevin Durant's 9.5 free throw attempts per game. Most of the free throws are come by honestly, but the most impressive ones are scammed.
Ethan Sherwood Strauss contributes to the TrueHoop Network.
KD is just so damn long and frail he keeps getting away with that damn shyt
