Draymond Green went off after the Golden State Warriors’ 110-105 win over the Sacramento Kings, calling out what he believed was a blatant attempt by Sacramento to lose, specifically pointing to Doug McDermott intentionally fouling Seth Curry while the Kings held a one-point lead with 3:15 remaining.
Green has now found ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who has spent months criticizing the league’s handling of teams openly losing games, in rare agreement with him. On Wednesday’s “First Take,” Smith outright backed the Warriors forward’s fiery postgame rant about the NBA’s tanking epidemic.
Why Stephen A. Smith Agrees With Draymond Green on NBA Tanking
Green’s frustration boiled over in the postgame presser, and he didn’t hold back. “I get fined when I do wrong. Just fine the hell out of people,” Green told reporters. “You know, we love taking money from players. Keep fining those teams. I’ve seen two fines. And we all know everybody’s tanking.”
The four-time champion, who, according to Spotrac, has been fined 244 times for over $1 million and suspended six times at a cost of $3.2 million, pointed to what he sees as a glaring inconsistency in how the league handles accountability.
The NBA fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for tanking earlier this season, but Green estimates roughly 12 teams are actively trying to lose games. “If my math serves me correctly, that’s 10 that ain’t been fined,” he said. “We don’t keep that same energy when it comes to teams.”
Siding with Green, Smith said on Wednesday, “[Draymond Green’s] 1,000% right. … When it comes to tanking it’s about the teams, it’s not about the players. The players are doing what they’re told to do.”
“[Draymond Green’s] 1,000% right. … When it comes to tanking it’s about the teams, it’s not about the players. The players are doing what they’re told to do.”
—@stephenasmith reacts to Draymond Green’s comments on teams tanking ✍️ pic.twitter.com/68D95yrMhY
— First Take (@FirstTake) April 8, 2026
Smith has hammered this point for weeks. Back in late March, when the league unveiled three anti-tanking proposals to the Board of Governors, Smith was blunt: “Nothing matters if you have an owner that doesn’t prioritize winning.” He called the current situation “disrespectful to a paying customer” and laid the blame squarely at the feet of ownership groups that treat competitive integrity as secondary to draft positioning.
Smith publicly aligning with Green hits differently after months of the two trading barbs over media accountability. Their feud over the Nico Harrison-Luka Dončić trade discourse got personal in March, with Smith calling Green “incredibly unfair” and Green firing back about commentators lacking accountability. On tanking, though, they’re reading from the same page.
MORE: ESPN’s Shams Charania Discloses 1 Major Option With ‘Most Momentum’ In NBA’s Anti-Tanking Proposal
The play-in tournament was supposed to fix this. But it hasn’t. Green acknowledged as much. “The play-in was made for teams to not tank,” he said. “They didn’t keep going. They slowed down. Hit the brakes.”
Commissioner Adam Silver promised action before June’s draft, telling reporters the league will “fix it, full stop.” The three proposals presented to owners would expand lottery participation to as many as 22 teams and flatten the odds to reduce the incentive to lose. A formal vote is expected in May.
Until then, Green and Smith, unlikely allies on this issue, will keep pushing the same message: punish the organizations making these decisions, not the players caught in the middle.
