NBA probes Kings' fouling
The NBA has opened an investigation into suspected fouling by the Sacramento Kings, a probe highlighted in social coverage of the league. (The inquiry was listed alongside other league developments in the social briefing.) (x.com).
The National Basketball Association opened, then quickly closed, an investigation into a late Sacramento Kings foul and said it was a coaching mistake, not an attempt to lose. (nba.com) The play came with Sacramento leading Golden State by one point and 3:15 left on April 7, when Kings coach Doug Christie told Doug McDermott to foul Seth Curry. The Warriors were already in the penalty, so the foul sent Curry to the line. (espn.com) The National Basketball Association said on April 9 that Christie mistakenly believed Golden State was not in the penalty and was trying to stop the clock before Sacramento lost a timeout after the three-minute mark. The league said its investigation found “no intentional effort” to create a shooting foul or make the Kings lose. (nba.com) The sequence drew scrutiny because Sacramento lost 110-105, fell to 21-59 after the game, and stayed near the bottom of the standings in a season when draft position had become a league-wide obsession. Golden State, at 37-42, was fighting for Western Conference play-in seeding. (espn.com) In the National Basketball Association, “tanking” means sacrificing wins to improve lottery odds for a high draft pick. The league has spent the past two seasons tightening rules on player rest and discussing broader anti-tanking changes with team governors. (nba.com) (espn.com) The accusation gained force after Warriors forward Draymond Green criticized the play after the buzzer and said teams should be fined more often for “blatant tanking moves.” Christie had said days earlier that “tanking is the last thing” he would do. (espn.com) Sacramento’s roster context fed the suspicion. ESPN reported that Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine and De’Andre Hunter had season-ending surgeries, while DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook were inactive for the April 7 game. (espn.com) The draft backdrop is real: the 2026 National Basketball Association Draft Lottery is scheduled for May 10 in Chicago, and the 14 teams that miss the playoffs are eligible. Final lottery odds are set when the regular season ends. (nba.com) For now, the league’s formal answer is simple: Sacramento made a bad late-game read, not a deliberate losing play. The Kings move on with no finding of tanking against Christie or the team. (nba.com)
