The Golden State Warriors came away with a close 110-105 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night, helping the Dubs improve to 37-42 on the season. While this would typically be positive news for the team, Draymond Green had a different takeaway.
During his postgame media availability, Draymond Green explicitly called out the Kings for fouling Seth Curry with three minutes left in the fourth quarter, suggesting that it was an egregious attempt to tank. When asked how the league could solve this issue, he stated:
“I get fined when I do [something] wrong. Just fine the hell out of people. We love taking money from players, keep fining teams. We’ve seen two fines, and we all know, everybody’s tanking. But we’ve only seen two fines. If it were players, they’d snatch that money in a heartbeat. Why isn’t it the same? … The punishment for players is to always take the money. Now it becomes to punish teams, and all of a sudden, nobody knows what to do.”
As Green mentioned, players are routinely fined and penalized for their misgivings. By the same token, however, only two teams (the Indiana Pacers and the Utah Jazz) have been fined for violating league policies this season.
Draymond Green’s suggestion is straightforward, but it also highlights a fundamental issue with player treatment. While such a punishment may not be well-received by team owners (since it could negatively affect their profits), that may be why it could effectively address the tanking problem.
Draymond Green Discards The Play-In Tournament
Draymond Green is known for being an opinionated individual. This was put on full display on Tuesday night as the forward shared his thoughts on several aspects of the NBA.
Before dissecting the NBA’s tanking problem, Draymond Green began by addressing the play-in tournament and how it has essentially failed in creating a more competitive environment in the latter stages of the season.
“I think it worked initially,” Green stated. “And now, to have a team stuck in 10th, it ain’t working. We could have lost our last 15 games and been stuck in 10th. It ain’t working.”
As Green mentioned, the Warriors’ season effectively fell apart in the final stretch. With injuries derailing the campaign, the Dubs lost out on their chance of securing a top-six playoff berth. Despite this, Golden State found itself in the play-in tournament, as they were considerably ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans in 11th place.
While such a drastic disparity could be attributed to many reasons, Draymond Green hinted that tanking had inevitably affected the play-in seedings. Thus, although the tournament was introduced to address the tanking problem, it has somehow exacerbated it instead.
Still, Draymond Green was aware of how positive the play-in had been, too. With their position secured, the Warriors have an opportunity to fight for the eighth seed in the playoffs. Thus, although they haven’t had the best ending to the campaign, Golden State still has a chance to compete and keep its postseason dream alive.
