NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke with transparency during Saturday’s NBA All-Star media session. Among the countless subjects he touched on, his response to the ongoing tanking epidemic has become an especially popular topic of conversation. The statement comes just days after the NBA fined the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers for breaking the player participation policy.
“Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory? Yes, which is what led to those fines,” said Silver. “Not just those fines, but that statement that we’re gonna be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season. We very intentionally wanted teams to be on notice. It’s not what the fans want at the end of the day, although my caveat is that teams are in a difficult place because many of you have written the worst place to be is a middle-of-the-road team and either be great or be bad, because that will help you with the draft.”
Clearly, Silver does not condone tanking, and he’s not going to let it fly when teams start to overtly throw games. While the fines are ultimately inconsequential, the point is to make a statement that there is a line teams should not cross. For Silver, he’s not above stripping teams of draft picks as a form of deterrence against the practice.
“There is talk about every possible remedy now to stop this behavior,” Silver added.
As Silver pointed out, tanking has always been a part of the NBA. It’s a way for bad teams to speed up the rebuild process by ensuring a high pick and maximizing their chances of landing a star. The problem is that it undermines the integrity of the sport. When teams are actively trying not to win and limiting their own capacity to do so, it sabotages the product and robs the consumer of the experience they paid for.
If the NBA wants to claim they play the highest quality basketball in the world, they cannot let teams throw their games so egregiously. Of course, the concern now becomes about what the NBA can do about it. Taking draft picks is one option, but another one could be letting front offices vote on the draft order. That way, only those teams who are deemed most deserving will be rewarded with the highest picks.
It’s going to be easier said than done to eliminate this damaging tradition, but the commissioner seems more committed to this issue than most others. After dishing out two fines already, he’s going to start bringing the hammer down hard on the guilty tanking teams, and only time will tell if it brings the desired results.
