NBA’s new proposed lottery system actually makes things worse and doesn’t fix tanking
The 3-2-1 lottery could ruin the play-in tournament and make the tanking pool larger.
People attend the NBA draft lottery in Chicago, Monday, May 12, 2025. | Nam Y. Huh, Associated Press I have been under the impression for most of my life that the NBA draft exists to inject new talent into the NBA and that the inverse record system by which the draft has operated was meant to promote parity and give the worst teams a chance at high-end talent that could help them improve.
I guess I was wrong. Dead set on “fixing” the tanking problem in the NBA, the league’s highest ranking officials, owners and team executives have been meeting regularly over the last few weeks to come up with a new lottery system that would discourage tanking. Finally, this week, a memo was sent to all 30 NBA teams defining the proposed new system in broad strokes.
It’s called the “3-2-1 lottery,” with the 3-2-1 representing how many lottery balls are available to teams. Here’s how it works: The lottery expands from 14 to 16 teams. Teams that do not qualify for the playoffs or play-in tournament, but stay above a bottom-three record (spots four through 10), receive three lottery balls each.
The teams with the three worst records are penalized, receiving two lottery balls each. They can fall no lower than pick No. 12.
Continue to the original source for the full article.