Nets-Pacers is Just Another Reason Why NBA Tanking Has Gotten Out of Control

In 2019, the NBA made changes to the lottery odds so that teams in the hunt for a top draft pick would stray away from 'tanking.' It was made so the league's bottom feeders were less incentivized to lose games, doing so by flattening the odds.

The results of the odds have worked, as over the last few years, many teams in the back half of the lottery standings shot up to land a top pick. However, the actual goal of eliminating tanking has failed dramatically. In fact, the issue has reached an all-time high this season.

Look no further than the Brooklyn Nets' 115-110 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. The injury report saw the Pacers sit Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and T.J. McConnell for some sort of "soreness" or "injury management" reason. As for the Nets, Michael Porter Jr., Nic Claxton and Noah Clowney did not play.

At this point, NBA teams are putting in minimal effort to conceal their blatant tanking. It has become egregious, with the league's standings becoming more polarizing by the day. In the Eastern Conference, there are eight or nine teams trying to win games, while the rest are actively running their performance into the ground.

Over in the Western Conference, four of the bottom five teams are doing the same thing. The New Orleans Pelicans don't own their 2026 first-round pick, which makes it all the more hilarious they're 15-41 with top-three odds at the No. 1 selection.

We're not even at the All-Star break yet, and teams have already figured out how to rest players for these soft/minor injuries. Something that the league thought would get nearly eliminated about seven years ago has led to organizations being even hungrier for that 52.1% chance at No. 1.

So how does this get fixed? The NFL doesn't even have a lottery system; the order is determined based on the standings. But that's way more manageable to digest in a 17-game season, rather than 82. The NBA should keep the lottery, but drastic measures need to be taken.

Bill Simmons recently hopped on his podcast with FS1's Nick Wright and proposed that instead of the record determining lottery odds, the bottom five teams all have an equal chance at the top pick. They also discussed the NBA inflicting salary-cap punishments to teams that don't reach a certain win threshold.

It's an interesting idea, and one that would certainly create more competitive juice among the worst teams. One thing is for certain: tanking is the worst it has ever been, and that's a reflection of the league giving too much freedom to organizations.

This is ruining the nature of sport; the goal is win, and right now, many teams in the best basketball league in the world are trying to do the opposite. Changes might hurt the chances of those at the bottom landing a generational talent, but the league needs to save the on-court product, not hypothetical percentages for a drawing of ping-pong balls.