The NBA is considering making a bold move to add more teams to the draft lottery in an effort to stop tanking. Commissioner Adam Silver has made it clear for months that the league doesn’t stand for the unparalleled level of tanking this season and will be looking at many proposals to change the process for next season. Teams like the Washington Wizards, Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz, and Indiana Pacers upset the league with their tanking.
NBA insider Sam Amick reported that one rule is gaining traction as the most popular option so far:
“According to league and team sources, a heavy frontrunner has emerged among the three proposed solutions to curb the widespread tanking problem that put such a stain on this season:
Option No. 1, in which 18 teams would be part of the draft lottery (rather than the current 14) and the bottom 10 teams would all have an 8 percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick. The remaining odds — 20 percent in all — would be divided among the remaining eight teams. In the current system, the bottom three teams all have a 14 percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick and the odds decline from there.”
The confusing changes would see a few major differences. Most importantly, the play-in seed winners from both conferences will also have a spot in the draft lottery, despite making the playoffs. The worst ten teams would all have the same odds of 10%, while the remaining eight teams would evenly split the remaining 20% odds.
Why NBA Fans Hate This Draft Lottery Change
The plan here for the NBA is to stop teams from losing on purpose and giving up on the season quickly. Many fans on social media and pundits in the media have already started to negatively criticize this potential change due to it being counterproductive.
The biggest issue would be that more teams might tank harder than they do now to fall to the bottom ten teams. A 10% chance for those teams is a massive advantage over the other lottery teams all getting a 2.5% chance.
This season proved that teams like the Memphis Grizzlies and Jazz would favor tanking over trying to make the play-in seeds. If teams already don’t care about the chance of making the playoffs, they will likely tank in this scenario to ensure they are a bottom ten team.
NBA Might Not Be Able To Fix Tanking
All the rumors ideas of making changes to the draft lottery end up having arguments that make it clear teams could still tank. Charles Barkley wants every non-playoff team to have the same odds as one of the most popular ideas out there.
However, even that will make the league look bad if teams try to lose the play-in games to fall into the lottery. NBA teams know that getting young talented players is the only way to turn things around when a franchise is struggling.
Generational prospects like Cooper Flagg, Victor Wembanyama, and AJ Dybantsa make it even more important for losing teams to stack the odds to get a franchise saving talent. Silver must figure out a way for middle of the pack winners to benefit from competing.
NBA Considering Unpopular Radical Draft Lottery Rule Change