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The NBA has been cracking down on teams that currently have plenty of incentive to lose games in the hopes of boosting their position in the draft. However, those efforts have left a bit to be desired, and the league isn’t ruling out the possibility of getting rid of that event altogether in an attempt to fix its tanking problem.
Every single one of America’s Big Four sports leagues has a draft that is structured to give its worst teams the best chance to land the top prospects in the hopes of turning things around. That includes the NBA, which is one of three with a lottery system in place to add some extra intrigue when it comes to determining the order of picks (the NFL is the only member of that quartet that simply goes off record and postseason performance).
The NBA Draft has a history that stretches back to 1947, but the lottery system wasn’t put in place until it was rolled out in 1985 in a quest to discourage teams from tanking. The league has repeatedly tinkered with the odds over the decades in its ongoing quest to fight that particular battle, but the teams with the worst records still have the best chance of landing the best picks.
That has understandably led to many franchises essentially deciding to wave the white flag and engage in a race to the bottom during an otherwise hopeless season, and Adam Silver is reportedly entertaining the idea of deploying the nuclear option to end that behavior once and for all.
The NBA Draft could be eliminated outright if the league isn’t able to come up with an adequate fix to its tanking issue
The NBA rolled out new rules to discourage teams from engaging in so-called “load management” prior to the 2020-21 season, but it has also harnessed them to punish teams who choose to rest top players in games they seemingly have no desire to win.
Last week, the Pacers and the Jazz were fined $100,000 and $500,000, respectively, and Silver issued a statement that specifically called them out for tanking, saying, “Overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition” (as Jazz owner Ryan Smith noted, the Jazz were punished despite winning one of the games that sparked the decision).
The commissioner has since made it very clear the NBA is reaching a breaking point when it comes to tolerating tanking. The league has floated some possible solutions, including the introduction of yet another tournament to determine the order of the draft (with the best of the worst teams ending up with the top pick) as well as discussions about locking in the order before the season actually ends.
However, none of them are as radical as one that is also in the realm of possibility. According to The Athletic, the outright abolition of the NBA Draft was not among the ten proposals that were discussed in meetings at the league’s office ahead of the All-Star Game, but the outlet noted a source claimed it was very much on the table in theory:
If Silver and his advisers decided the only way to stop tanking, and thereby protect paying customers from forking over money to watch their teams lose on purpose, was to stop the draft altogether and turn rookies into free agents, that same league official said it would get serious consideration.
All signs point to the NBA continuing to tinker with the current format before the draft ends up in any serious danger, but it’s pretty clear the fight against tanking has become a top priority.