Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:
You are over-thinking it. As someone who has played plenty of basketball, the 'reasons' are: Sportsmanship Saving energy Convenience Take a quick rest while there's a break in the action No reason Just making sure you're ok and not injured None of these are because the player is incapable of standing up on his own (unless actually injured). More often than not, it's just a convenience thing or to get a quick little rest if you're fatigued. Actually, if you're talking about a player for the Heat or Clippers, disregard everything I just said...they flop and milk it like soccer players :)
Full answer by A D: https://sports.stackexchange.com/a/4386 (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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