NBA Reportedly Investigating Kings for Potential Tanking

After erasing a 16-point deficit to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, the Sacramento Kings ultimately fell to the Golden State Warriors 110-105 on Tuesday night in San Francisco. After the game, Draymond Green claimed that the Kings were tanking, as they intentionally fouled Seth Curry while up by one point with three minutes left.

Now, the NBA is looking into the potential tanking strategy used by the Kings during Tuesday night's game.

"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," ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Wednesday.

The NBA is looking into what multiple sources say was a strategy mistake by Kings coach Doug Christie on an intentional foul of Seth Curry while leading the Warriors with over 3 minutes left in Tuesday's game: pic.twitter.com/t83vvfljAA
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 8, 2026

The reality of the situation

While the NBA is reportedly looking into the decision to intentionally foul Seth Curry late in Tuesday's game, this situation is nothing more than a coaching error by Doug Christie.

"But Kings sources tell me that, '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.' ... He did not have a foul to give. The Kings side is saying that this was a mistake," Charania said.

The Kings had three timeouts left with 3:15 to go in the game. If the clock gets to the three-minute mark, the Kings lose their third timeout. Of course, in a tight game, Christie wanted to use that "use it or lose it" timeout, which was accomplished by fouling Curry, but he did not realize the Warriors were in the bonus.

As of the time of this posting, the tweet below has 1.4M views.

The two sets of free throws shown were the result of:

1) Christie wanting to stop play so he could call his use-it-or-lose-it timeout before time dropped below 3 mins.
2) Cardwell fouling Seth during a live… https://t.co/TnWSfQKLHx
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) April 8, 2026

Green got fans riled up by starting this conversation about the Kings potentially tanking, when in reality, they have been one of the most ethical teams at the bottom of the NBA standings.

Despite the Kings having a disappointing 21-59 record, they are 7-9 in their last 16 games, and the main reason they have been so bad this season is because of injuries. Sure, they would not be competing for a championship if healthy, but they have had four players undergo season-ending surgeries, with several other guys banged up as well.

Jumping to the conclusion that the Kings are tanking because of this one instance, when they have shown much more effort than other lottery teams recently, is wrong. While the NBA is reportedly "investigating" the situation, there should be a quick conclusion that there was no wrongdoing here.

During Green's rant about tanking after Tuesday's game, he admitted that he believes more teams at the bottom of the league should be fined for tanking. So far, only the Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers have faced penalties, but he certainly suggested that the Kings should have to cough up some money as well.