Dallas Mavericks former head coach Don Nelson started the tactic of fouling bad free throw shooters back in the late 90's. From Kevin Sherrington of The Dallas Morning News:

"Adam Silver and his minions reportedly presented a pile of facts at the NBA general manager meetings in Chicago refuting the notion that the playoffs have come to a screeching halt while teams tortured the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan by making him stand at a free throw line and chunk bricks at a wall. Clearly this should be a violation of the CBA, if not the ASPCA, but, alas, no such luck. For this basketball strategy we could probably credit the Mavs’ own Don Nelson, who applied it on several occasions over the course of an often brilliant and sometimes diabolical career. He’s got the clown nose to prove it. Hack-A-Shaq was Nellie’s evil brainchild, an effort to exploit the weaknesses of the game’s larger-than-life character. Nellie first applied it to Shaquille O’Neal in 1999, when the Mavs were still awful and the Lakers yet great. Phil Jackson, the Lakers’ coach, called the strategy a product of Nellie’s feverish intent to 'screw a game up.' Actually, there’s some science to it."