A baffling foul call ignites an NBA investigation and reignites the controversial debate surrounding tanking and draft picks.
On Tuesday, the Sacramento Kings lost a hard-fought game against Golden State Warriors, falling 110-105.
However, the story of the game was a foul call that occurred just before the three-minute mark in the fourth quarter.
With Sacramento leading by one with 3:15 to play, veteran forward Doug McDermott was instructed by head coach Doug Christie to foul Seth Curry, putting the 86.4-percent career free-throw shooter at the line.
According to Kings sources, Christie made a mistake, thinking the Kings had one more foul to give before putting themselves in the penalty.
Supposedly, the first-year head coach had planned to use the Kings' "use it or lose it" timeout prior to the three minute break, but instead, caught flack from players and analysts for his miscalculation.
Following the game, Warriors forward Draymond Green talked about the strange foul call, engaging in a media discussion about the ongoing talks concerning tanking.
"I saw a team tonight foul Seth Curry with three minutes to go for no reason," Green said. "I get fined when I do wrong. Fine the hell out of people."
Green continued his rant, saying that franchises need to be punished for obvious methods of tanking.
The incident got even more serious when ESPN Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania joined "NBA Today" to share that the league is investigating situation, while supporting Sacramento's "mistake" claim.
"The Kings are 7-9 in their last 16 games," Charania said. "They were the worst team in the NBA when they went on this 7-9 run. Now, they're around four or five as far as worst teams. So, if they wanted to continue to "tank," they could just continue to lose."
While this late-season surge has been good for young Kings players like Maxime Raynaud and Devin Carter, the team's recent winning has lessened their opportunity at a top draft pick.
"The teams with the three worst records will have a 52.1-percent chance of securing a top-four pick and a 14.1-percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick. The team with the fourth-worst record will have a 48.1-percent chance of getting a top-four pick and a 12.5-percent chance of landing the top pick.
Despite these recent shifts, Christie has said he remains "anti-tank," as Roundtable's Lorenzo Reyna highlighted in mid-March.
"We go out there to play and we go out there to win," Christie said following a two-game win streak. "Now if they beat you, they beat you."
"Just my personal opinion, it hurts [tanking]. And I'm not here to hurt our team. I'm here to help our young men."
As the season winds down and Christie’s future with the franchise grows uncertain, this blunder isn’t a good look. Still, his stance against tanking is commendable, and the situation should be viewed as a simple mistake rather than an intentional attempt to lose.
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