{"id":705457,"date":"2026-04-08T15:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705457\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T15:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:48:18","slug":"warriors-draymond-green-has-solution-for-nba-tanking-problem-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705457\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors\u2019 Draymond Green has solution for NBA tanking problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Over the past two weeks, Warriors<\/a> forward Draymond Green<\/a> has witnessed an advanced form of an already-potent illness sweep through the NBA. No one knows who Patient Zero for this scourge is, but everybody knows its name.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tanking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every night, a multitude of games are decided by 15, 20 or even 30 points. Uncompetitive contests that feature anonymous rosters as stars \u2013 or even competent role players \u2013 are shut down for the season with injuries both real and imagined.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All in the name of stacking up losses in pursuit of a better chance at landing a franchise-changing draft pick that will lead to a top prospect such as AJ Dybantsa or Darryn Peterson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The play-in tournament was supposed to fix this, giving the ninth and 10th seeds a chance at a postseason series. But as it turns out, the prospect of being dashed to pieces by a top-two seed cannot be outweighed by the potential of a top-two pick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shaking his head at Chase Center\u2019s postgame podium after the Warriors beat the tanking Kings \u2013 with no Russell Westbrook, DeMar DeRozan or Zach LaVine \u2013 Green scoffed at the play-in.<\/p>\n

Never shy to share his opinions on officiating, defense or anything else, Green told reporters exactly what he thought about the play-in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the play-in was made for teams not to tank, and I think that\u2019s the part everyone forgets,\u201d Green said. \u201cThe play-in was about making teams, through 12 or 13 (seeds) keep going \u2026 they ain\u2019t keep going. It kind of slowed them down and then they hit the brakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, most teams hit the brakes, but the Warriors decided it was full speed ahead. Because the Warriors \u2013 without Jimmy Butler or Steph Curry for large swaths of the year \u2013 and Blazers were the only teams on the fringe trying to play respectable hoops, that put the teams in a strange position that Green could only scoff at.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it worked initially, but to have a team stuck in 10th, it\u2019s not working,\u201d Green said. \u201cWe could\u2019ve lost our last 15 games and still be stuck in 10th.\u201d<\/p>\n

He later added that the play-in has worked for the Warriors for exactly that reason.<\/p>\n

So if the play-in is no incentive not to tank, then what can be done?<\/p>\n

Green\u00a0advocated for using a method that has long been utilized against him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI get fined when I do wrong. Just fine the hell out of people,\u201d said Green, whose career fines total more than $1 million, according to Spotrac<\/a>. \u201cWe love taking money from players, so keep fining the teams. I\u2019ve seen two fines, and we all know everybody tanking. But you\u2019ve seen two fines.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NBA fined the Jazz $500,000 and the Pacers $100,000 in mid-February for personnel moves deemed \u201cdetrimental to the league\u201d and widely perceived as willfully self-sabotaging to their respective teams.<\/p>\n

Those fines did not deter franchises valued in the billions from continuing to lose. The Jazz (21-59) are still the worst team in the West, while the Pacers (18-61) are second-worst in the East.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before Green dramatically stood up and left the press conference, he claimed that the league has shown itself to possess a double standard when it comes to holding teams accountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep that same energy when it comes to teams, to officials. When it comes to everybody but players, we don\u2019t keep that same energy,\u201d Green said, before sarcastically remarking, \u201cBut it\u2019s a player\u2019s league.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Over the past two weeks, Warriors forward Draymond Green has witnessed an advanced form of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,159,160,200,479,164,4025,4024,155,165,6,161,162,163,66,255,1372,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-705457","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-draymond-green","12":"tag-golden-state","13":"tag-golden-state-warriors","14":"tag-goldenstate","15":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","16":"tag-inside-sports","17":"tag-latest-headlines","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-peninsula","20":"tag-san-francisco","21":"tag-san-francisco-county","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-warriors","24":"tag-warriors-alert","25":"tag-warriors-hq"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116369876888022740","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}