NBA Eyes Proposals To Curtail League’s Tanking Epidemic
out their G-League lineups in a desperate race to the bottom of the standings. It is ugly. It is tough on the eyes. And NBA Commissioner Adam Silver absolutely hates it.
Tanking has been the league’s dirtiest open secret for decades. It is agonizing for fans who pay hard-earned money to watch their favorite franchise purposely fumble games just to secure a shiny ping-pong ball. But according to the latest whispers around the league, the era of rewarding intentional misery might finally be drawing to a close.
The New Frontrunner To Fix the NBA Draft Lottery
According to a recent report from The Athletic’s Sam Amick, the league is currently circling a favorite among three proposed solutions to overhaul the draft lottery system. And honestly? It is a pretty massive shakeup.
Right now, the absolute worst three teams in the league are rewarded with a 14% chance at the No. 1 overall pick. It practically begs general managers to strip their rosters down to the studs. But the new momentum is behind what insiders are calling “Option No. 1,” a radical shift that expands the lottery pool from 14 teams to 18.
Under this new proposal, the bottom 10 teams in the standings would all have the exact same odds at the top pick. A flat 8 percent chance. The remaining 20 percent of the odds would be divvied up among the other eight lottery teams. Think about what that actually means. Finishing dead last would no longer guarantee you the best odds at drafting a generational superstar.
You could finish with the 10th-worst record, actually try to win a few games down the stretch for your fans, and still have the same chance at salvation as the team that intentionally lost 65 games.
Adam Silver’s Crusade Against Losing
The commissioner has made no secret of his disdain for the tanking epidemic. He has repeatedly stressed that this is an ownership-level problem that directly impacts the integrity of the game. When teams are visibly trying to lose, it hurts the brand, aggravates the broadcast partners, and alienates the paying ticket-holders.
Silver recently promised that the league is going to fix this issue, “full stop.” The urgency is incredibly real. But is this 18-team lottery expansion actually the silver bullet the NBA has been searching for?
The Inevitable Quirks Of the Proposed System
As much as we all desperately want to see competitive basketball in April, this new proposal is not without its own hilarious flaws. By expanding the lottery to 18 teams, you are essentially guaranteeing that a few playoff-caliber rosters will be sitting in the lottery room with a real shot at a top prospect.
Imagine the sheer chaos if a team makes the postseason and then somehow lucks into the No. 1 overall pick. It defeats the entire foundational purpose of the draft, which is to help the most destitute franchises claw their way back to relevance. And we have already seen crazy lottery luck happen. The Atlanta Hawks leaped up to grab the top pick in 2024 with a measly 3% chance. Remember the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014? They had a 1.7% chance and still walked away with the first overall selection in the NBA Draft.
Giving decent teams a legitimate shot at the top prospect might stop the outright tanking, but it could also accidentally create super teams. The truth is, as long as the draft remains the most reliable path to acquiring franchise-altering talent, front offices will always look for a loophole.
General managers are quite literally paid to exploit the system. Whether this new proposal gets ratified or not, the NBA remains stuck in a perpetual game of whack-a-mole with its own executives. Let’s just hope the on-court product becomes a little more watchable in the meantime.
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