Another NBA team is under scrutiny for potential tanking (in perhaps the strangest saga yet).
The NBA is investigating the Sacramento Kings after a bizarre move by their head coach Doug Christie during Tuesday’s game against the Golden State Warriors. With just over three minutes left in the fourth quarter at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., the Kings were clinging to a 101-100 lead.
With the Warriors bringing the ball up the floor, Christie directed his team to intentionally foul. Sacramento thus fouled Golden State guard Seth Curry, who was off the ball in the frontcourt.
The Warriors were in the bonus at the time though, so the unusual decision led to free points from the foul line for Golden State. Here is the strange video.
The Kings were INTENTIONALLY fouling Seth Curry in crunch time to lose the game…
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) April 8, 2026
We've NEVER seen this level of tanking pic.twitter.com/fU9q7d4JEV
After the game, which the Warriors won 110-105, Golden State star Draymond Green called out the Kings for the move. Green said that Sacramento should be fined for what he saw as a measure of intentional tanking.
"I saw [the Kings] foul Seth Curry with three minutes to go for no reason! In the penalty!"
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 8, 2026
Draymond Green wants the NBA to start punishing teams for tanking.
"I get fined when I do wrong. Just fine the hell out of people. We love taking money from players. Keep fining the… pic.twitter.com/xI8bNpyI4L
Shams Charania of ESPN reported on Wednesday that the league was “looking into” the Kings over the bizarre intentional foul. However, Sacramento’s stance is that Christie simply made a “mistake,” thinking that his team had a foul to give when in reality they did not.
The Kings did have a use-it-or-lose-it timeout at their disposal that would have evaporated at the three-minute mark, and the intentional foul allowed them to call it. But for Christie to a) not use it during his own team’s possession and to b) forget that his team was in the penalty during a clutch situation definitely set off some alarm bells.
Sacramento is currently tied for the worst record in the Western Conference right now at 21-59 and the fourth-worst record overall. The NBA has already punished multiple teams in recent months for their apparent tanking measures, and now they have opened up an investigation into the Kings to see if they meet the criteria for discipline as well.
