The NBA investigated the Sacramento Kings after Draymond Green suggested they intentionally lost their game Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors. The league determined coach Doug Christie made a tactical error rather than a deliberate attempt to lose.
• What happened: Christie instructed Doug McDermott to foul Seth Curry with 3:15 left while the Kings led by one. Curry, an 86.4% career free throw shooter, made one of two free throws to tie the game.
• Why he did it: Sources told The Sacramento Bee that Christie wanted to stop the clock to use a timeout before the three-minute mark and mistakenly believed the Kings had a foul to give before putting the Warriors in the bonus.
• The NBA’s conclusion: The league said Christie “made no intentional effort to give the Warriors a shooting foul, or to cause the Kings to lose the game.”
• Green’s reaction: After the Warriors’ 110-105 win, Green said, “I saw a team tonight foul Seth Curry with three minutes to go for no reason. I get fined when I do wrong. Fine the hell out of people.”
• Context: The Kings were missing seven players due to injuries, including Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Russell Westbrook and Keegan Murray. Christie has repeatedly stated he doesn’t believe in tanking.
• Draft implications: The Kings (21-59) are tied with the Utah Jazz for the fourth-worst record in the NBA, affecting their draft lottery positioning.
This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence based on our own originally reported, written and published content. Before publishing, journalists reviewed this content in compliance with McClatchy Media’s AI policy.
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