Report: NBA puts forward new "3-2-1" expanded lottery proposal to curb tanking
The NBA has devised a more complex plan that punishes the worst teams for losing too many games. Is that a good plan?
Adam Silver and the NBA's quixotic quest to end tanking reached a new level of complexity on Tuesday when the league unveiled a new plan to the 30 league GMs on a conference call. This new "3-2-1" system ā named after how many ping pong balls each team would get, depending upon their finish ā would expand the lottery to 16 teams, according to reports by Shams Charania at ESPN and Sam Amick at The Athletic . Here is how the new system would break down: ā¢ The teams with the three worst records in the league would fall into a "relegation zone" and be penalized by only getting two lottery balls, not three like other teams that missed the playoffs.
Those three teams would have a 5. 4% chance at the No. 1 pick, and in this system could fall no further than 12th.
Meaning the team that was the worst the season before could well draft 10th, 11th or 12th. ā¢ Teams that missed the playoffs but were not one of the worst three ā teams four through 10 at the bottom of the standings ā would get three lottery balls and an 8. 1% chance at the No.
1 pick. ā¢ Teams that finish as the No. 9 and 10 seeds in each conference will each get two lottery balls.