Former Suns GM Gets Honest on New NBA Anti-Tanking Rules

Former Phoenix Suns GM James Jones believes this will help.

Nov 29, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns senior advisor James Jones against the Denver Nuggets at the Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The NBA just introduced a plethora of new anit-tanking policies, and former Phoenix Suns general manager James Jones — who now works for the NBA as the head of basketball operations — says the league's prior investigations into teams potentially losing on purpose for better draft position showed clear cause for changes.

"Having done a lot of these investigations and inquiries with teams, when you get to the place of investigating your way to an outcome, it’s really hard to say that it’s just not coaching error, bad player performance, or some underlying basketball (thing),”Jones said (h/t The Athletic).

“It’s all subjective. We want to be in a place where no matter the outcome of the game, you don’t feel like you’re better off if you lose. You can’t punish your way to that.”

The NBA, this week, announced a new draft lottery system in hopes of derailing potential teams from tanking. The lottery expanded from 14 to 16 teams with lighter odds for teams, including what's been deemed as a "relegation zone" for teams picking in the bottom three that punishes them with lesser chances of getting the No. 1 pick.

“I don't think the league's ever been in a place where teams have been this deep and the talent pool is this strong," Jones said (h/t Duane Rankin). "There are a lot of good players, so many good players to the point where a lot of NBA caliber players can't stay in our league for five or six years. It’s no longer a thing like it was years ago where you couldn't find enough talent. The subjective is to say who is the worst team in basketball.

“Some of these teams have extreme talent, but they're just coached poorly or they have injuries. In the past, it was the worst teams just didn't have enough talent. Now, you're seeing teams who have bad records with a tremendous amount of talent. So the system didn't really work for an extremely competitive league with parity and so we had to get to something that we think we'll solve some of our biggest issues but also allow teams to be creative in how they manage this plethora of talent that's in our ecosystem.”

It feels like the NBA can never fully prevent teams for losing on purpose for a chance at a high draft pick, though Jones and other NBA shot-callers hope the new rules will help.