One of the biggest conversations surrounding the NBA has to do with tanking. This season it seems as if teams shutting players down in order to improve their potential draft spot has started earlier than ever and the league has already handed out major fines to both the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers fort their actions.
Of course, the bigger question is how the league can truly combat teams tanking, if that is at all possible. Many feel they have the answer to this problem in the NBA and the league and Commissioner Adam Silver will not be sitting around and letting this continue.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Silver has informed teams that the NBA will be implementing anti-tanking rules beginning next season with multiple different concepts already being discussed:
Commissioner Adam Silver informed the league's 30 general managers on Thursday that the NBA plans to make anti-tanking rule changes for next season, sources tell ESPN. Stakeholders have intensified dialogue about combatting tanking.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 19, 2026
Multiple sources with knowledge of Thursday's GM meeting as well as a late January Competition Committee meeting told ESPN that the following concepts have been discussed to curb tanking:
•First-round picks can be protected only top-4 or top-14+
•Lottery odds freeze at the… https://t.co/Vk2n1cSzde— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 19, 2026
There are certainly a lot of different and interesting ideas being discussed on how best to combat this issue. Lottery odds freezing at a certain date or even being completely flattened across all lottery teams would seem, on paper at least, to be options that would motivate teams to continue playing their players as they wouldn’t be rewarded for being worse down the stretch of the season.
For every possible solution, there are almost always some unforeseen and unexpected consequences that can pop up and there is just no way to know how things could play out. But Silver and the league exploring these options and actively trying to fix these tanking issues is a good sign that they are taking these things seriously and are willing to try new things to fix any problems that pop up across the league.
Austin Reaves discusses how Lakers can gel for remainder of season
The Los Angeles Lakers certainly won’t be tanking as this team continues to try and take the next step towards championship contention. And now that the team is healthy, Austin Reaves is excited about how this team can gel down the stretch of this season.
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