The NBA is investigating the Sacramento Kings’ intentional foul of Golden State Warriors guard Seth Curry late in the Warriors’ 110-105 win over the Kings on Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Shams 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,” Charania reported Wednesday on NBA Today. “But Kings sources tell me that 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. That’s the rule if you have over three minutes left, he felt like he had a foul to give. He did not have a foul to give. So, the Kings side is saying that this was a mistake.”
With Sacramento leading Golden State 101-100 and just over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Kings forward Doug McDermott intentionally fouled Curry.
Curry connected on one of his two free-throw attempts before the Warriors later won the game.
It’s worth noting that Kings head coach Doug Christie immediately called a timeout after the intentional foul occurred.
Golden State eventually improved to 37-42 with the victory, while Sacramento fell to 21-59.
After the game, Warriors forward Draymond Green called out the incident.
“I saw a team tonight foul Seth Curry with three minutes to go for no reason,” Green said, per ESPN’s Anthony Slater. “I get fined when I do wrong. Fine the hell outta people.”
NBA teams are only given two timeouts with under three minutes remaining in a game. The Kings had three timeouts prior to the intentional foul, as they would have lost the timeout as soon as the clock dropped below three minutes if it wasn’t used.
While it may have been an understandable decision to intentionally foul and use the timeout to draw up a play if the Warriors weren’t in the bonus, Christie’s choice ended up giving Curry a pair of free throws instead.
The NBA has already introduced several anti-tanking rule change proposals for future seasons, as the league’s Board of Governors is expected to vote on the proposals on May 28.
The Kings sit at No. 14 in the Western Conference standings with a 21-59 record as the regular season winds down, although they’ve gone 7-9 over their past 16 games.