NBA Commissioner ‘Thrilled’ with NBA Draft Changes

Weeks ago, the NBA quietly unleashed bold new reform to the NBA Draft Lottery, which is set to seismically shift how things are done.

Instead of a descending order of draft odds in a tiered system, the league has now implemented the “3-2-1 lottery” system, which will give teams as many as three lottery ball, or as few as one. For the first time ever, there will be a penalty for finishing in the bottom-three of the league, with the reverse four through 11 seeds getting the most balls possible, an 8.1% chance at the top pick.

The lottery has also been expanded to 16 teams, in addition to teams not being able to draft No. 1 consecutively, or top-five three seasons in a row.

The sweeping changes are certain to make it harder to build through the NBA Draft as a whole, though they're largely aimed at stopping tanking, the colloquial term for positioning a team to lose on purpose. A recent simulation on NBA Draft on SI showed how differently things can look under the new system.

At a Wednesday presser, league commissioner Adam Silver said he was “thrilled, frankly” by the new changes to the lottery system.

From a league standpoint, it’s hard to fault the commissioner for saying so. While there are issues with the new system that could cause one to question whether it will stick through it’s 2029 sunset clause, it should in the least help teams to stop re-positioning themselves near the very bottom.

“Tanking is not a new issue for this league,” Silver said. “Maybe what surprised us all a little bit is how quickly it became acceptable behavior.

“Our fans were speaking loud and clearly about this being unacceptable. Oddly you had situations where in some markets, fans were cheering on their teams and saying, ‘Of course this is the right strategy, you have to be either really good or really bad.’ … [But] at the same time saying, ‘Don’t ask me to pay for this product or watch this product in the meantime.’”

Every team in the league save for the Memphis Grizzlies voted on the new changes, and 2029 will be the earliest that the league will be able to reform yet again.

Most teams are set to benefit from the changes, though a select few could see unlucky spins in the next three years. The 2026 NBA Draft will take place on June 23 and 24.

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