Report: Proposed NBA Draft Lottery Reform Discourages Tanking
The NBA is pushing for changes to the draft lottery system that would discourage teams from tanking, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
The changes could potentially become legislation through voting ahead of the upcoming 2017–18 season, although any changes would be implemented over time and not all at once. Commissioner Adam Silver is reportedly a proponent of disincentivizing teams from losing games by adjusting the lottery odds so that the worst records have reduced chances at winning the top picks.
Such a change would produce a more egalitarian system among non-playoff teams, and encourage teams to compete for the post-season with a better chance of obtaining a desirable selection. Wojnarowski reports the league’s competition committee will vote next week before sending a formal proposal to the Board of Governors.
The proposed legislation would allow teams to drop further in the lottery (currently the team with the worst record can pick no lower than fourth; new rules would allow a fall to fifth) and smooth out the odds so that the teams with the three worst records would have the same chance of winning the first pick, and that the gap between the teams with the worst and fifth-worst records would narrow considerably.
The discussion around tanking has come to the forefront in recent years with franchises most notably including the 76ers bottoming out to consistently land high selections in attempt to draft a future star.
