The NBA tanking controversy reached a new low on Tuesday. With three minutes remaining in the game between the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings, and the Kings leading by a point, Kings coach Doug Christie directed his team to foul Seth Curry. 

The decision sparked massive outrage from fans and the media alike for blatantly tanking. Draymond Green called out the decision in the post-game presser.

The league later issued a statement following the investigation, concluding that no tanking intent was found. This led to another flood of outrage from the fans on social media. 

“The league's investigation determined that Christie mistakenly believed that the Warriors were not in the penalty and therefore instructed his team to foul in an attempt to stop the clock and utilize one of the team's remaining timeouts,” the statement said. 

Previously, Christie and his coaching staff had maintained that the decision had nothing to do with tanking but was just a coaching blunder. The Kings' coach also added that he respected the game too much to try to tank. However, fans continued to spit fire at the league despite the concluded result.

Fans blast the NBA following Doug Christie’s timeout investigation

The fans were so outraged by Christie’s actions that they were not ready to accept the NBA’s conclusion. “Cut the bs. They just got CAUGHT,” a fan said, blasting the result for a false conclusion.

The Kings had three timeouts left by that time, and if the clock had gone under three minutes, they would have lost one timeout. A fan joked that it was a “pointless investigation, give us the 1st overall pick as compensation for this.”

However, it also remains true that the Kings were already in the bonus and any further foul would have [as it did] sent the Warriors to the free throw line. With the league going with Christie’s story that he was unaware, a fan blasted the league. “Classic NBA: It was just a misunderstanding, your honor,” the fan remarked. 

Other fans were equally flabbergasted. “I'm surprised someone would believe Doug Christie had no intent to lose the game. Silver is a genius,” another fan said. 

Tanking is nothing new in the NBA. Previously, several teams have used it to climb up the NBA draft board. However, this season, the overwhelming number of teams has been accused of tanking, with the Jazz and Pacers even taking fines.

However, there is a wider belief that the league is just hiding it. “That is BS. Everybody knows they did it to intentionally lose that game,” a fan alleged.

What do you think? Was Christie’s decision actually in pursuit of a loss, or was it just a coaching mistake? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Nandjee Ranjan

Edited by

Siddharth Rawat