The NBA is tired of tanking.
Commissioner Adam Silver has informed all general managers that the NBA plans to add anti-tanking rule changes for next season, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Thursday.
NBA stakeholders have reportedly intensified dialogue about combating tanking, Charania added.
Per Charania, the proposed new rules include:
• First-round picks can be protected only in the top four or top 14+.
• Lottery odds freeze at the trade deadline or a later date.
• No longer allowing a team to pick top four in consecutive years and/or after consecutive bottom-three finishes.
• Teams can’t pick top four the year after making conference finals.
• Lottery odds allocated based on two-year records.
• Lottery extended to include all play-in teams.
• Flattening odds for all lottery teams.
Silver was described as “forceful” with his desire to solve the problem of tanking, according to Charania. The commissioner said during all-star weekend that he has been considering “every possible remedy” to stop teams from attempting to lose.
The idea of losing on purpose has been prominent this season following the actions of teams like the Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers.
The Kings have ruled out two of their top players, Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis, for the rest of the season as both underwent surgeries. Sabonis had played right up until the all-star break, but will now spend the rest of the year on the sidelines.
Meanwhile, the Jazz and Pacers were both recently fined for roster management decisions.
The Jazz benched Jaren Jackson Jr. and Lauri Markkanen in the fourth quarter of two separate games, despite close scores and both playing the first three quarters.
The Pacers held Pascal Siakam and two other starters out of a game on Feb. 3. All three teams are near the bottom of the standings and are hoping to land the top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
The league has addressed it many times over the years, including tinkering with the lottery format, adding the Player Participation Policy and handing down heavy fines — like the $750,000 one given to the Dallas Mavericks in 2023, when they sat out most of their key players in a late-season game despite still having a chance to reach the post-season.
“I think we’re coming at it in two ways. One is, again, focusing on the here and now, the behaviour we’re seeing from our teams and doing whatever we can to remind them of what their obligation is to the fans and to their partner teams,” Silver said at all-star weekend. “But number two … the competition committee started earlier this year reexamining the whole approach to how the draft lottery works.
“We want to have fair competition, we want to have fair systems and to keep an eye on the fans, most importantly, and their expectation that we’re going to be putting the best product forward,” he said.
— with files from The Associated Press
