Draymond Green Calls Out Kings for Tanking vs. Warriors

Draymond Green called out the Sacramento Kings for tanking against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday as part of an argument about why the play-in tournament isn't working.

Green said the play-in tournament was designed to have 12-13 teams in each conference battle for playoff positioning until the end of the season. But that isn't happening this year.

Teams below 10th in both conferences have essentially stopped trying to preserve draft positioning.

The Kings are one of those teams hoping to lose, so when they were leading 101-100 with 3:18 to go, they intentionally fouled Seth Curry to give him two free-throw attempts.

Curry is a career 86.4 percent free-throw shooter. The fact that he split the free throws doesn't absolve the Kings of their strategy. It certainly looked like blatant tanking.

"I saw a team tonight foul Seth Curry with three minutes to go in the game for no reason—in the penalty," Green told reporters. "It ain't working."

The Kings responded with a Doug McDermott three to give them the lead, but the Warriors closed the game on a 9-1 run from there, winning 110-105.

The loss moved the Kings (21-59) into a tie with the Jazz (21-59) for the fourth-worst record in the NBA.

When asked what can be done to fix the tanking epidemic, Green had an interesting response.

"I get fined when I do wrong," Green said. "Just fine the hell out of people. We love taking money from players. Keep fining teams. I've seen two [teams fined for tanking], but we all know everybody tanking."

Play-in Tournament Gives Warriors Playoff Shot They Wouldn't Have Otherwise

Green had virtually nothing good to say about the play-in tournament, but he eventually acknowledged how it's helping the Warriors this season.

"We want to make the playoffs, so it works, I guess."

The Warriors are locked into 10th place. Before the play-in tournament, they would have already been eliminated from contention. Now, they know they will make the playoffs if they win two road games in the play-in.

The other Western Conference teams in the play-in will be the Phoenix Suns (43-36), Los Angeles Clippers (41-38) and Portland Trail Blazers (40-39).

It's not clear what order they will finish, though it has been decided that the Suns can't finish lower than eighth. So the Warriors will be traveling to Los Angeles or Portland for the 9-10 play-in elimination game.

Golden State is 1-3 against Portland this year, including 0-2 at Moda Center.

The Warriors are 1-2 against the Clippers, including 0-1 at Intuit Dome. These teams play each other again in Los Angeles on Sunday.