NBA shares some anti-tanking concepts with owners, AP sources say
The NBA's process of finding new ways to deter teams from tanking is currently focused around three separate concepts to change the draft lottery, two people with knowledge of the discussions surrounding the issue told The Associated Press on Friday. The concepts — they are not yet finalized proposals — were presented to the league's board of governors by NBA executives earlier this week, the people said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because none of the details have been shared publicly.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday he expects a special meeting of owners to take place in May to vote on changes to the lottery, vowing that the league would fix the tanking issue. And one of the people who spoke with the AP on Friday said it's almost certain that the concepts will change or at least be tweaked in the coming weeks, with a possibility of more ideas being presented to owners as well. The league's general managers — for some time — have also been weighing in with ideas for potential changes.
ESPN first reported that the concepts were shared with the governors. “I will say again, as I’ve said this before, this is not a new issue in this league,” Silver said this week. “You can go back to the ’60s, when coin tosses were used to determine who got the first pick, then in the ’80s, when a draft lottery was created.
That lottery has been modified four times since then. Does not seem to be operating optimally where we are now. ” The changes — whatever they end up being — won't be in place for this year's lottery, which will be held in May.
The current rules The 14 teams that don't make the NBA playoffs go to the lottery, where a four-number combination of ping-pong balls are drawn to decide the order of the top four teams in the draft. The teams with the worst three records all have a 14% chance of winning the No. 1 pick — and none of the teams with the worst five records can finish lower than eighth in the lottery.