The subject of tanking has become a hot-button topic in recent weeks, so much so that NBA commissioner Adam Silver felt the need to address it over All-Star weekend.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks spoke about the commissioner’s response, including his comments about potentially stripping picks from teams.
“Change is coming here when we’re looking at this lottery system, and basically not incentivizing teams to lose to gain advantage in the draft,” Marks said.
There have been different ideas thrown out as potential remedies for the current system. Marc Stein, in his latest newsletter, suggests a new approach, wherein teams would only secure the highest odds for landing the top pick once they clear 27 wins.
He uses 27 wins as the cut-off because that would mean winning at least a third of the season’s games, and would discourage teams from bottoming out completely. Some semblance of competitiveness would be required to hit that mark and qualify for a top pick. Teams that didn’t reach 27 wins would have lower odds of landing a top-four pick in this scenario.
Whatever the choice is, Stein writes that it’s important that the league doesn’t overreact to a particularly egregious single-year tank battle due to what is considered a generational draft.
We have more from around the world of basketball:
- Law Murray of The Athletic released his post-All-Star Break power rankings today, which he broke into five categories: Top Contenders, In a Good place, The Bubble, Not the Tier to Fear, and Basement Floor. His Top Contenders category includes five teams, led by the Pistonsfollowed by the Spurs, Thunder, Knicksand Celtics, while his second tier is a three-team race between the Cavaliers, Nuggetsand Rockets. On the other side of the spectrum, he has five Basement Floor teams, with the two lowest being the Wizards at 29 and the Kings, whom he calls “a true factory of sadness,” at 30.
- It was recently reported that Nigel Hayes-Davis would be leaving the NBA to return to Europe, signing a deal with Panathinaikos that will extend through 2028. He explained the decision on choosing the Greek team instead of joining one of his former squad, Fenerbahce Beko. “Everyone knows Fenerbahce was an option and what I did there over the last few years, especially what we accomplished as a team last season. It just felt like that chapter was closed and that I had given my all,” he said, per Kevin Martorano of Sportando.
- Pau Gasol confirmed his involvement in NBA Europe, though what exactly he will be doing has yet to be fully clarified, Mortando writes. “At the moment, there is no defined role. I’m simply working with the NBA, with FIBAand speaking with teams to see what the evolution of basketball’s growth in Europe should look like,” the two-time NBA champion said. “From there, we’ll see what role I will ultimately take on, whether at the league level or with a team.” He also outlined his vision for what the project would be able to accomplish. “We need to build everything from scratch,” he said. “Basketball is a globally important sport, and I believe we have the space to enhance it both as an experience and as a show, going beyond the simple magic of the game itself. That is exactly what we are here to do.”
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