NBA Investigating Suspicious Play After Draymond Green Rant

Maybe the NBA heard  Golden State Warriors star big man  Draymond Green after all. When the team beat the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night at home to end their four-game losing streak, the garrulous forward was asked about the play-in tournament, as well as the state of tanking in the NBA. He lamented that only two teams–the Pacers and Jazz–were fined by the league, back in February, for actions that indicated they were intentionally losing.

Green pointed out that Tuesday’s hapless opponent, the Kings, are not only tanking but pulled a pretty blatant move in an attempt to lose to the Warriors.

Kings forward Doug McDermott fouled Seth Curry, a career 86.4% free-throw shooter, with 3:15 to play in the game and Sacramento not only in the penalty–but leading the game, 101-100. The foul was clearly intentional, and committed well away from the action. It was a play would never really make sense … unless a team was trying to lose.

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Warriors’ Draymond Green Pointed Out Intentional Foul

Green pointed that out when meeting with Warriors media after the game. In a lengthy answer on the play-in game and tanking, Green pointed out the hypocrisy of how the NBA handles punishment for tanking teams, and how it aggressively fines players for misconduct.

“The play-in was made for teams to not tank. I think that’s the part that everyone forgets,” Green said. “Like, the play-in came about to make teams like, maybe 12 through 13, keep going. They didn’t keep going. They slowed down. Hit the brakes. I saw a team tonight foul Seth Curry with three minutes to go in the game for no reason. In the penalty. It ain’t working.”

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NBA Investigating Kings’ Actions

The NBA has taken notice. On ESPN on Wednesday night, insider Shams Charania said the NBA is investigating what happened with the Warriors-Kings foul, and whether it was part of a deliberate attempt to throw the game.

The Kings’ defense, apparently, is that coach Doug Christie simply made a mistake.

Said Charania: “I’m told the NBA is investigating this situation, this foul that took place with over three minutes left in the game, to Seth Curry. But Kings sources tell me, listen, Doug Christie just made a mistake, a strategical error. He thought he had a foul to give with over three minutes to go, to get a free timeout. … The Kings side is saying that this is a mistake, and this is the argument that’s going on across the league right now, tanking vs. rebuilding.”

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Warriors’ Draymond Green: ‘Keep Fining Those Teams’

There can be little question that Green’s Warriors postgame dissertation on the foul and the state of tanking in the NBA had something to do with the decision of the league to look into the play.

If you missed it, Green was at his rhetorical best.

“I think I get fined when I do wrong. Just fine the hell out of people. You know, we love taking money from players. Keep fining those teams. I’ve seen two fines. And we all know everybody’s tanking. But you’ve seen two fines. You know? If it was players, they’d snatch that money in a heartbeat. Why isn’t it the same? Everybody loves money.

“So, you know, the punishment for players is always, take your money. Well, now it comes time to punish teams and all the sudden, nobody knows what to do. But why not? We know exactly what to do when somebody gets a technical foul. Suspended for a game. They know exactly what to do. All the sudden, we got team issues, nobody knows what to do. What happened to the whole, take the money stuff?”

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney