Sacramento nearly faced NBA discipline following a questionable foul late against the Golden State Warriors.
The Sacramento Kings masterfully have avoided tanking accusations in a season that's shine a light on the tactic.
They came close, though, toward the end against the Golden State Warriors with a questionable late foul.
But the Kings were cleared of any wrongdoing Thursday with the league office sending out this statement.
"The investigation found that Christie made no intentional effort to give the Warriors a shooting foul, or to cause the Kings to lose the game,” the NBA said in a statement.
Christie managed to break his silence on being cleared when speaking with the Sacramento media Thursday. The head coach began by claiming he took his dog for a walk to take his mind off potentially receiving a league punishment.
"It doesn't bother me because people have comments. It doesn't mean anything," Christie said. "We would never put Scott [Perry] or anybody in any type of position like that. I have too much respect for our players, I have too much respect for this city and I have too much respect for the league."
Christie denies having any thought of pivoting to tanking methods just to improve the Kings' NBA Draft positioning.
"Just wouldn't do it period," Christie said. "We're out there to win. And out guys are going to play hard to the end, period."
The foul in question involving Steph Curry reignited the debate of "tanking," especially with NBA commissioner Adam Silver cracking down on teams that pull it off. The league also is set to propose new rules that help circumvent the tactic.
Sam Amick of The Athletic also saw the moment firsthand and dropped this account.
"Christie, who had three timeouts remaining and would have lost one of them when the game clock dipped below the three-minute mark, ordered the foul with the intention of preserving the timeout and then being able to draw up a play for the next possession. However, the Kings were already in the bonus — a fact Christie was unaware of — meaning Curry was awarded free throws rather than a side-out inbounds," Amick wrote in his report.
Sacramento is currently tied at 21-59 with the Utah Jazz. Both share the Western Conference' worst record, but have more victories than the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards.
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