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Draymond Green Calls for NBA Rule Change After Charles Barkley’s Comments

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Evan Tiwari | Last updated Feb 23, 2026 7:27 PM ET

Charles Barkley recently went on a long tirade about the NBA's tanking problem, and proposed three fixes to eliminate the issue and get teams to toe the line.

One of those ideas is gaining traction online, and Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green seems to be a fan of the proposal. Barkley suggested that teams should be prohibited from raising their ticket prices if their record for the season is below .500. On the latest appearance of his podcast "The Draymond Green Show," Green concurred with the NBA legend, echoing similar thoughts while speaking on the topic of tanking and what needs to be done to curb it.

“And then I also like Charles Barkley's idea, which is you can't raise ticket prices if you're below 500," Green said. "Because why are you raising ticket prices? It's kind of like a high tide lifts all boats. So the NBA, Steph Curry's great, right? Like the Raiders go crazy."

"Like, Shai Gilgeous said, OK, seat's great. You know, like, so a high, well, a high tide raises all boats. Well, NBA teams take advantage of that and they just raise the ticket prices because they're NBA teams. I agree with Charles Barkley's idea. You shouldn't be able to raise ticket prices and it should also cost you in some other areas."

NBA TV analyst Charles Barkley talks on set before game three of the 2024 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center.Kevin Jairaj-USA Today Sports via Imagn Images

The topic of tanking has picked up steam in recent days after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's comments on the subject. Silver reportedly spoke to the 30 general managers on a call last Thursday, highlighting the fact that the league will adopt a strictly anti-tanking stance going forward.

Following the meeting, the league is likely to introduce seven rule changes to tackle tanking, according to Shams Charania. The proposed new rules include:

First-round picks can be protected only top-four or top-14-plus
Lottery odds freeze at the trade deadline or a later date
No longer allowing a team to pick top four in consecutive years and/or after consecutive bottom-three finishes
Teams can’t pick top-four the year after making conference finals
Lottery odds allocated based on two-year records
Lottery extended to include all play-in teams
Flatten odds for all lottery teams

Returning to Barkley's suggestions, his other two solutions revolved around the NBA Draft Lottery and player trade rules. The former Phoenix Suns star suggested that every team that misses the playoffs should only be given one ping pong ball as opposed to multiple balls. The third proposal involves doing away with protection on picks, which the teams use to their advantage to keep a pick if it lands in an agreed-upon range, sending a less valuable pick to the receiving team instead.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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