NBA Reportedly Eying Seismic new Anti-Tanking Proposal

The NBA has committed to cracking down on tanking in recent months, seeing meeting after meeting dedicated to squashing losing efforts that wracked the 2025-26 season.

Commissioner Adam Silver has led the efforts, evaluating three different anti-tanking proposals, with Silver reportedly saying in a Monday call:” “You should assume for next season your only incentive will be to win games.”

Per a Tuesday update from ESPN’s Shams Charania, the NBA has disclosed to the 30 General Managers a new anti-tanking draft lottery reform, deeming it the “3-2-1 lottery.” This is now the fourth proposal, despite one clawing its way to the front over the last few weeks.

The “3-2-1 lottery” would expand the lottery from 14 teams to 16, flattening odds and creating a relegation zone, where the bottom three teams will be penalized with fewer lottery balls for the No. 1 pick, reportedly starting in 2027 per Charania.

Charania reported that minor corrections could still be made to the proposal, though “key points of the framework have a majority of the support from teams,”

The name is reportedly designed to represent the number of lottery balls per team. Teams that don’t make the postseason or Play-In Tournament, but stay out of the relegation zone, will get three lottery balls each. Teams in the bottom-three have two lottery balls, but a floor of the No. 12 pick, while the rest can fall all the way to No. 16.

The ninth-seeded and tenth-seeded Play-In seeds will reportedly have two lottery balls each, while the losers of the seventh and eighth-seeded Play-In games will have just one lottery ball each.

Additionally, no team would be able to win the top pick in consecutive yers, or be able to win three consecutive top-five picks. Teams reportedly also won’t be able to protect picks in the 12 to 15 slots moving forward.

Charania also wrote that the proposal includes a “sunset provision,” meaning that the new system would expire following the 2029 draft, and allow the Board of Governors to continue the system or transition to a new one. They will also have authority to regular tanking, and have the option to reduce teams’ lottery odds and modify teams draft position — likely the biggest step toward tanking reform.

The details have yet to be finalized, though the fourth proposal seems to have the most traction yet per Charania's reporting. And it's clear the draft is set to undergo seismic changes as the league attempts to curb tanking.

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