Many basketball players, after shooting a free throw for a technical or flagrant foul (where they are alone at the free throw line and no one else is lined up o

Many basketball players, after shooting a free throw for a technical or flagrant foul (where they are alone at the free throw line and no one else is lined up on the key) will reach out and slap the hands of their imaginary teammates like they would after a normal free throw. I always wondered if it was superstition, unconscious habit, or a developed habit.