In a move that didn’t go unnoticed, the Sacramento Kings began deliberately fouling late in their game against the Golden State Warriors, a sequence that looked more like draft positioning than competition. Draymond Green saw it unfold in real time, and once the game ended, he didn’t hold back.

The 36-year-old Warriors veteran addressed the media postgame. And without a moment’s hesitation, fired back at the NBA for blatantly ignoring tanking teams. “I get fined when I do wrong,” he said. He further proposed a solution. “Just fine the hell outta people. They love taking money from players. Keep fining teams. I’ve seen two fines. As players, they snatch that money in a heartbeat. Why isn’t it the same? Everybody loves money.”

The NBA has never hesitated to penalize players for violations, but Green’s issue is the double standard. While the Warriors are fighting to stay alive in the Play-In race, teams like Sacramento appear more focused on lottery positioning than winning games.

Therefore, Draymond Green clearly feels the league isn’t doing enough to address the competitive imbalance this creates. “The punishment for players is always ‘Let’s take the money.’ Now it becomes time to punish teams, and all of a sudden, nobody will know what to do. Why not?” he added.

Green also pointed to what he sees as inconsistency in discipline. The league has clear systems to fine or suspend players, but when it comes to teams, accountability feels far less defined. That gap, in his view, is where the problem lies.

To Green, the inconsistency is hard to ignore. Even in recent years, the NBA fined the Dallas Mavericks $750,000 for resting players in a must-win game, yet similar situations haven’t always drawn the same response. “We don’t keep that same energy when it comes to teams, when it comes to officials, when it comes to everybody but players. We don’t keep that same energy. But this is a player’s league,” Green concluded.

The NBA has already presented three anti-tanking proposals to its Board of Governors in New York and is expected to revisit them ahead of a formal vote in May. According to ESPN, each proposal centers on expanding the lottery pool, a move designed to reduce incentives for tanking.

Green’s stance is simple: if the league doesn’t act now, the problem will only grow. The bigger question is whether the NBA is waiting for structural changes before taking stronger action against teams.

What brought out Draymond Green’s frustration?

The play-in format was designed to keep more teams competitive deeper into the season. Instead, once teams fall outside the top 10, urgency often disappears, with focus shifting toward draft positioning rather than late playoff pushes.

In Tuesday’s game, the Kings leaned into that approach. Leading 101-100 with 3:18 left, they fouled Seth Curry—an 86.4% free-throw shooter—effectively trading possessions for time. He split the pair, and moments later, Doug McDermott knocked down a three. Still, the Warriors responded with a decisive 9-1 run to close out a 110-105 win.

Therefore, the Kings (21-59) now sit tied with the Utah Jazz (21-59) for the fourth-worst record. That lack of urgency clearly doesn’t sit well with Green, especially because while teams like Sacramento are no longer chasing the postseason, the Warriors still are. Sitting 10th in the West, they remain just two wins away from securing a playoff spot—something that wouldn’t have been possible before the play-in era.

With the postseason within reach, the Warriors are locked into compete-now mode. And for Green, that makes the league’s handling of tanking even harder to accept because while some teams are playing for the future, others are still fighting for their season.