One of the big stories across the league this season has been the increased number of teams that seem to be obviously tanking in hopes of improving their draft position for what is viewed as one of the most talent-rich NBA Drafts in many years.
Reports have come out on new potential anti-tanking rules that could come into effect next season, but it won’t stop there. According to Joe Vardon of The Athletic, the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver are also considering harsher penalties for teams deemed to be tanking, including the loss of draft picks:
Additionally, if a team, under new rules, was still found by NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s office to be tanking, the commissioner would either be able to take away that team’s draft pick, move it to the end of the lottery or first round and also increase fines into the millions of dollars.
It is one thing to put systems in place that make it less rewarding for teams to tank, but as one anonymous person put it, if the penalties for tanking don’t increase, it won’t stop teams from trying things:
“Without stricter penalties, you could still have crazy behavior,” said one league source, granted anonymity so they could freely discuss concepts under consideration. “You have to have something in place that is so drastic, a team would actually think twice about tanking. And if a team tries it and gets caught, then the other teams need to see the penalties and realize it isn’t worth it to try.”
Taking away a draft pick might sound a bit extreme, but it does take something that drastic to really make teams re-consider the idea of tanking. Even if one of these new systems is put in place, teams will likely still look for ways around it if all they are at risk for is a minor fine.
Fixing the NBA’s tanking problem is a top priority for Silver and the NBA. Whether they find the right solution immediately won’t be known until things are put into action, but at the very least the league is going to make some major changes to try and prevent this from getting even further out of hand.
NBA presents three anti-tanking proposals to Board of Governors
The NBA has presented three different anti-tanking proposals to the Board of Governors and will be voted on, with amendments, in May. Among the proposed suggestions would be increasing the teams involved in the lottery from to 18 or 22 teams, as well as changing the odds of teams landing the top overall pick.
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