With fear of numerous teams adopting a tanking strategy similar to that of the Philadelphia 76ers, a reform to the NBA’s draft lottery became a major talking point.
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This morning, it came to a vote and shockingly, NBA owners voted it down according to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski:
The NBA draft lottery reform has been voted down at Board of Governors meeting, league sources tell Yahoo Sports. System stays.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) October 22, 2014
Needing seven teams to vote against it, there were actually 13 teams that voted against the reform according to Wojnarowski:
Here were the 13 "No" votes, sources told Yahoo: PHX, PHL, OKC, NO, DET, MIA, MIL, San Antonio, Utah, Wash, ATL, CHA and Chicago.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) October 22, 2014
The reform passing seemed like a sure thing just yesterday, but owners apparently were worried about unintended consequences that could arise in the new system and decided to vote against it. The majority of teams to vote against it were small market teams with worries about the system helping the big-market teams.
Had the system been changed, it would have been a major advantage for the Lakers next summer. The reformed system would have given the four worst teams in the league equal 12 percent odds to win the top pick, while raising the odds for the other lottery teams. It also would have drawn for the top six teams as opposed to the top three teams, further increasing the possibility of upward movement for teams higher in the lottery.
The Lakers will have a difficult time making the playoffs this season, but the Phoenix Suns get their first-round pick if it does not fall within the top five and the changed system would have made that more likely. Unfortunately, things did not work out the way most had intended.
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