While commissioner Adam Silver and the top brass of the NBA ponder over ideas to combat tanking across the league, the oft-outspoken Draymond Green made sure to chime in on the matter.
"Keep fining teams," the Golden State Warriors forward said after a brief pause to think, when asked on Tuesday night how to solve the growing issue of teams prioritizing their draft lottery standing over competing on a routine basis this time of year. "I've seen two fines, and we all know everybody (that is) tanking, but we've seen two fines. If it were players, they'd snatch that money in a heartbeat. why isn't it the same?"
The two fines Green referred to came in February when the Indiana Pacers were dinged $100,000 and the Utah Jazz $500,000 for "Overt behavior ... that prioritizes draft position over winning (which) undermines the foundation of NBA competition," according to Silver.
As for why Green was asked about the league-wide issue on Tuesday night, it came after his Warriors outlasted the Kings for a 110-105 victory — a win that was aided by some antics from Sacramento.
"I saw a team tonight foul Seth Curry with three minutes to go in the game for no reason,” Green said of the Kings' head-scratching decision to send a career 86 per cent free-throw shooter to the line while leading.
With the loss, Sacramento is now tied for the fourth-worst record in the NBA with the Jazz, giving the Kings nearly a 47 per cent shot at landing a top-five pick in the 2026 draft.
"I get fined when I do wrong, just fine the hell out of people," Green added.
The NBA thought they had gotten a handle on tanking when the league introduced the Play-In tournament, but according to four-time champion "it worked initially, but to have a team stuck in 10th, it isn't working."
To Green's point, Golden State was mathematically locked into the Play-In tournament as far back as two weeks ago. Currently sitting 10th in the West, the New Orleans Pelicans in 11th are 11.5 games back of the Warriors.
"(If) we could've lost our last 15 games and still be stuck in 10th, it isn't working ... the Play-In came about to make teams through 12 or 13 keep going, they didn't keep going. They slowed down, hit the brakes."
Hence why the final week of regular-season action "is not exciting" for the veteran. "I'm a competitor ... I'm going to do all I can to win, but it's not exciting.
"I'm not going to sleep tomorrow night going 'man, we got this Play-In next week, I have to get my rest.' It's not that exciting."
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