Draymond Green accuses Kings of tanking after strange Seth Curry fouling sequence: 'Keep fining the teams' originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
Despite being frowned upon across sports, tanking in the NBA has become a frequent occurrence. One of the most blatant tank efforts made its rounds across the league and social media on Tuesday night.
With 3:15 to go in the fourth quarter while leading by one point, Sacramento Kings forward Doug McDermott made a conscious effort to foul Golden State Warriors guard Seth Curry. An important note: Curry did not have the ball and was on the other side of the court when McDermott intentionally hugged him.
In a video from under the basket, Sacramento head coach Doug Christie seemed to motion at McDermott to foul Curry, calling for NBA fans to see this as nothing but a purposeful tank job.
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who was on the court when it happened, opened up about Tuesday's event and called for the league to take action. Here's what the 14-year NBA veteran said about what the league needs to do.
SN's NBA HQ: Live NBA scores | Updated NBA standings | Full NBA schedule
With 3:15 to go in the fourth quarter, with Sacramento up 101-100, the Kings opted to foul Seth Curry, who was on the complete other side of the court. The announcers were bewildered at this move, and so was Green.
After the game, Green discussed the odd play and called for the league to continue fining teams for tanking. "I've only seen two fines, and we all know everybody's tanking," Green said.
Here is a video of the longtime Warrior opening up about the fourth-quarter play and what he believes the league has to do to combat the omnipresent tanking issue.
Green also elaborated, saying the NBA is quick to take money from players, but seemed to be more hesitant to fine teams for wrongdoings. "We know exactly what to do when someone gets a technical foul. Suspended for a game, said Green. "We know exactly what to do. All the sudden, we have teams with issues, and we don't know what to do."
MORE: Current NBA standings, playoff bracket
Despite the game being well within reach for the Kings to pull off the upset against the Warriors, who are currently the No. 10 seed in the West and have clinched a play-in position, forward Doug McDermott ran over to foul the Warriors' guard Seth Curry. In a video, Sacramento head coach Doug Christie appears to point at Curry, signaling McDermott to foul Steph's brother. Here is a video of the play from under the basket.
According to Coach Christie, he believed the Kings had an extra foul to give to use for a free timeout. Along with this, the Kings fouled Curry again while attempting to grab a rebound.
Per Shams Charania, the NBA has begun investigating these instances and whether the Kings were intentionally tanking or Christie did make legitimate tactical errors.
Typically, in basketball, players intentionally foul if they are trying to stop the clock and have more time to score. With the full context of Sacramento's season, tied at the bottom of the Western Conference with the worst record (21-59), many NBA fans believe Christie and the Kings were trying not to win this game. The Kings currently have the fourth-highest odds to land the No. 1 overall pick, according to Tankathon , ahead of the NBA Draft Lottery on May 10.
MORE: Tracking NBA Awards eligibility
The NBA announced that it would be conducting an investigation into the situation and seeing if the Kings did, in fact, intentionally tank against the Warriors.
The league released a statement on Thursday, April 9, of their findings. The NBA determined that Christie indeed did not know that Golden State wasn't in the bonus. The Kings' coach was said not to have purposefully given Golden State a foul shot.
