The Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes that 14 lottery teams will enter next year might be one of the most impactful moments in the history of those franchises. Not only is Wembanyama a 7’4″ demigod, but he is also expected to add around $500 million in value to whichever team drafts him.
As a result, there is a heavy incentive for teams to be bad and be in a position to draft Wembanyama next year. Teams like the Orlando Magic and the Houston Rockets are already looking like bottom-feeder teams, while expected tankers in the Utah Jazz have shocked the world as the No. 1 seed in the West through their first 13 games.
Either way, one NBA executive expects all these teams to go on losing streaks for 10 to 15 games in order to get Wembanyama via lottery. This is despite Adam Silver already asking teams to not tank this season.
The tanking may not be blatantly underway, but executives around the league are expecting it to happen.
“You might see the longest 10- to 15-game losing streaks by multiple teams in NBA history.”@sam_amick has more: https://t.co/aSFMFbpY1Z pic.twitter.com/oqLC3DBAW1
— The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) November 10, 2022
“No, it’s early enough to where you can just throw everybody off your scent and say, ‘What are you talking about? Look how hard we’ve been playing,’” one general manager said. “Don’t get it twisted. Once people start taking on a little bit of water around the trade deadline, you might see the longest 10- to 15-game losing streaks by multiple teams in NBA history.” (h/t The Athletic)
Wembanyama might just be the most legitimate superstar prospect we have seen in the draft since LeBron James in 2003. Some experts have even picked Wembanyama as a better prospect than LeBron.
Will This Tank Be Worth It?
Tanking is always risky, as there’s no guarantee on what pick a team gets after the draft lottery. All they can do is ensure they’re one of the 3 worst teams in the league to maximize their odds at the No. 1 pick, with even those odds just being 14%.
Wembanyama promises to be everything a prospect created in a basketball lab would be. That is a scary prospect for everyone, which is why teams are rushing to the bottom of the Conference. Whether he actually lives up to the NBA expectations is something we will see, but it is going to be extremely fun to track through the season.
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