Tanking has always been something that has existed in the NBA, but it really seems to have gone into overdrive in the last decade or so. The Philadelphia 76ers kickstarted it with the infamous “Process,” which saw them tank for years, and we see a handful of teams do it every year at this point. The prize at the end is a top draft pick with which they hope to land the next big thing, and for the team’s participating in this season’s tank bowl, the prize is Victor Wembanyama.
While we get to see some great prospects enter the league every season, generational ones are quite hard to come by. We haven’t really seen someone regarded as a generational prospect come into the league since LeBron James in 2003, but that is about to change in a big way with Wembanyama set to be a part of the 2023 NBA Draft.
NBA Fan Shares Hilarious Video Of How Teams Would Respond To Adam Silver Not Wanting Them To Tank For Wembanyama
Standing at 7’4”, Wembanyama can do it all. He can score from anywhere, he can handle the ball, he can play defense, and he is just the complete package. Those who weren’t aware of just how good he is, were able to get a glimpse of what we can expect from the Frenchman when he comes into the NBA, as he put in a dominant showing with 37 points to go with 5 blocks when his Metropolitans 92 took on G League Ignite. A lot of executives from the league were present for the game, and one of them joked to Slam Magazine that everyone was ready to tank.
via Slam Magazine:
“The whole NBA will be in the arena,’’ says one NBA executive. “They want to see the unicorn.” Another executive jokes, “Everybody is so ready to tank.”
Commissioner Adam Silver definitely wouldn’t want to see that, and an NBA fan on Twitter shared a hilarious video of how teams would respond to Silver asking them not to tank.
Adam Silver: “I don’t want anybody tanking for Victor Wembanyama!”
NBA Teams: pic.twitter.com/xVNIaWKl23
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) October 5, 2022
“Indiana just traded Haliburton for Tony Snell.”
“My spurs lost to the rockets by 40 just saying.”
“The Jazz losing every single game in horrible fashion is going to be the highlight of my year”
“Which team is gonna have “Tank city” on their jersey?”
“Imagine you have an encarnation of Tim Duncan, fusioned with Dirk Nowitzki, and the agility and movements of a Guard. A One in the History of Basket.”
“tanking for a 7’4 future KD seems about right thing to do as a team, dude is skilled.”
“spurs gonna have 5 la fitness old heads out there for the last 30 games of this season”
“*Launches another THT 18 footer”
“Finals contenders going to tank too”
” Adam going to get you!!”
“Somebody go lock Shai, Dort, Giddey, KRich, Mann, Jdub, and JRE in a vault for the season…”
“Gonna be heavy tanking for him”
“Lakers trade ad and bron let’s build for the future. Give Russ away for an order of Jack curly fries and one peaks PBR dressed”
“Aight now Adam Silver gonna start giving everybody just one ping pong ball”
“Start losing first day of the season….boys not dumb lol”
“Lmao The accuracy”
“Sacramento Kings: “We already got the record for longest playoffs-less streak in pro sports. What’s another year?””
” one the best uses of this meme to date!!!!”
“We about to see some really shameless basketball in order to get that number one pick “
We are going to see some epic tank jobs this upcoming season, with teams like the Spurs and the Jazz primed to have some absolutely dreadful seasons. As we said, though, it isn’t often that you get a shot at such an incredible prospect, and the Spurs have seen first-hand how it can transform a franchise.
The Spurs tanked in 1996-97 once David Robinson went down with an injury, and their reward for tanking was getting the no. 1 pick in the 1997 NBA Draft. Who did they select with it? Well, Tim Duncan, of course, and they’ll be hoping that if they land Wembanyama, then he can lead them to success like Duncan did.
