The NBA has already taken several steps to address the tanking epidemic, and there are still more to come.
While plenty of theories have been proposed and shot down, one suggested solution has reportedly made an impression on league Commissioner Adam Silver. According to Kevin O’Connor, the idea came during an NBA GM meeting this week, and received strong approval from Silver. It reportedly involves lowering the lottery odds for the bottom three teams.
“During the NBA GM meeting this week, one person suggested making the bottom three teams ineligible for the top picks entirely,” wrote Kevin O’Connor on X. “The league, per multiple sources, found this to be way too extreme. But then another person on the call offered a softer version of the same concept: What if the bottom three teams just had slightly lower odds than the teams ranked four through 10? Not zero. Just a little less. Sources on the call say Adam Silver responded enthusiastically to this idea. This speaks to the state of lottery reform. The 18 team/8% odds for the top 10 concept is simply still just the concept. The specifics of it will change by the time the league votes on it in late May. And adjustments — like this one — are still in heavy consideration.”
Tanking is an ancient practice in the NBA. During losing seasons, when the mood is miserable, the only small consolation is earning higher lottery odds, which can flip a team’s fortunes overnight. This often leads to a mad dash to the bottom, with the NBA’s worst teams often self-sabotaging to ensure they don’t get too far ahead. This year, the tradition was turned up to another level, with teams blatantly throwing games for the sake of protecting their lottery odds.
It has prompted a swift and aggressive response from the NBA, and particularly Adam Silver, who has pledged to force an end to the practice. While a pair of fines successfully sent a message, the league will need to do more if they want to properly condemn the strategy. At the very least, they’ll have to tweak the rules if they want to force change.
Initially, it was proposed that the bottom three teams should be ineligible for the top picks altogether, but it seems the league has settled on a similar, much less punishing solution: simply lowering the odds instead. By giving the 4-10 ranked spots the best odds, it stops incentivizing bad teams from losing. In fact, it might push the previously tanking teams to try and play better in order to avoid worsening their lottery odds.
It also has the intended effect of making games more meaningful down the stretch. As it is now, most non-playoff teams don’t have much left to play for this season, but these changes would mean that every game matters, even for teams that are nowhere near being competitive. In the end, it may not be the perfect solution, but it’s an appropriate response to a problem that’s plagued the league for far too long.
