The NBA has 3 proposals to fix tanking and none of them will work
NBA commissioner Adam Silver wants to make sure that the teams in his league are doing whatever they can to avoid tanking. But it sadly won't work. Silver recently told reporters that the league is " going to fix it " and it will be " completely different " for future seasons.
The NBA sent three "anti-tanking concepts" to the Board of Governors earlier this week, per ESPN, and the team owners are expected to vote on the rule change in May. Here are the ideas, with modifications potentially coming, reported by Shams Charania : 18 teams in draft lottery (seeds 7-15 in each conference) – flattened odds, with bottom 10 teams having an 8% chance, the remaining 20% odds distributed in decreasing order for 11 through 18, and a lottery drawing for all 18 picks. 22 teams in lottery using 2-year record (seeds 7-15, plus the four playoff first round exits in both conferences).
Lottery teams would reach a minimum win total floor in each season, such as 25 wins. If a team falls short of the floor, it gets slotted to meet the floor. Top 4 drawn as part of lottery, as is currently.
18 teams in a "5 by 5" lottery – bottom 5 teams have equal odds for the top pick, with lottery formed for picks 1-5. Bottom 5 teams have a floor at 10; those that fall out of top 5 get sorted in a separate drawing. Let's take a step back for a second and avoid trying to dissect the potential benefits and unforeseen drawbacks of these complicated proposals.
While some of them are difficult to understand, they all lead to the same place. Research suggests that the best way to land an All-Star on your roster is through the NBA Draft. So long as there is an NBA Draft Lottery, teams are going to do whatever they can to rig it in their favor.