Report: Lottery reform has broad support, vote could happen this year
The NBA's proposed reform to the draft lottery has wide support among the league's owners, reports Grantland.com's Zach Lowe.
According to the report, the owners could vote on the proposal as soon as this season.
It was reported in July that the NBA submitted an official proposal to change the lottery system due to concerns over tanking.
Under the current system, the team with the worst record has a 25 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick, with odds decreasing from there. Teams with the four best records in the lottery have a less than one percent chance of the No. 1 pick. NBA teams have commonly tanked by sitting their best players or using other methods over the course of the season to have a worse record and thus a better chance at obtaining the No. 1 pick.
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The NBA has proposed a flattening of the odds, in which the four teams with the worst records in the lottery all have an 11 percent chance at the top pick, with odds gain decreasing from there. The team with the best record in the lottery, though, would have a two percent chance at the No. 1 pick, higher than the 0.5 percent chance in the current system.
According to Lowe, many NBA teams support the proposed changes because of opposition to the Philadelphia 76ers' multi-year tanking strategy.
The 76ers began a complete rebuild before last season, which saw them go 19-63 in an attempt to earn the No. 1 pick. (They received the No. 3 pick, which they used to take Kansas center Joel Embiid.) The team appears set up to have a similar season this year, again with the hope of receiving the top pick through the lottery.
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Philadelphia reportedly opposes the lottery reform being instituted in time for the next draft, ostensibly because it would hurt the team's plan to tank.
In this summer's lottery, the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had the ninth-worst record in the lottery and thus a 1.7 percent chance at the No. 1 pick, won the lottery. The team used the No. 1 pick on Kansas forward Andrew Wiggins, who was then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of the deal for Kevin Love.
- Ben Estes
