NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Proposes Crackdown on Tanking to Protect Fair Play
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's proposed crackdown on tanking is gaining momentum following a recent conference call with team general managers. The league is actively developing plans to curb the practice, which has sparked widespread debate across the basketball community.
What Is Tanking and Why Is It a Problem?
Tanking, a term familiar in American sports, refers to teams intentionally losing games to improve their position in the annual draft. Although the NBA, similar to Major League Baseball and the NHL, uses a weighted lottery system to determine draft order—where the worst-performing teams have the best odds for top picks—this structure has incentivised losing behaviour.
As first reported by ESPN, the NBA is considering several adjustments to its lottery format. Potential strategies include flattening the lottery odds for all teams or freezing the odds at a specific point during the season to discourage late-season losses.
Silver's Stance and Proposed Solutions
During the league's All-Star events last weekend, Silver emphasised that 'every possible remedy ... to stop this behavior' is under consideration. In a call with general managers on Thursday, he detailed various options, according to sources who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, as the league has not publicly announced specific plans.
Nothing has been finalised yet, and one source indicated that many ideas are already on the table. Among the proposals is locking in lottery odds by a certain date, which would eliminate any incentive for teams to lose games in the final weeks of the season. This issue is expected to be further discussed at a Board of Governors meeting next month.
Recent Fines and Enforcement Actions
Tanking has become a major talking point in the NBA recently, highlighted by significant fines imposed on teams. The Utah Jazz were fined $500,000 for 'conduct detrimental to the league' after benching key players Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. during the fourth quarters of two games. The league stated that the Jazz did this 'even though these players were otherwise able to continue to play and the outcomes of the games were thereafter in doubt.'
Similarly, the Indiana Pacers were fined $100,000 for violating the Player Participation Policy by not using certain players, including star Pascal Siakam, in a game against Utah earlier this month.
Over the years, the NBA has addressed tanking multiple times through measures such as tweaking the lottery format, implementing the Player Participation Policy, and issuing heavy fines. For instance, the Dallas Mavericks were fined $750,000 in 2023 for sitting out most of their key players in a late-season game despite still having a chance to reach the postseason.
Silver's Two-Pronged Approach
In his comments at All-Star weekend, Silver outlined a dual strategy to combat tanking. 'I think we're coming at it in two ways. One is, again, focusing on the here and now, the behavior 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,' he said.
'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.'
This comprehensive approach aims to balance immediate enforcement with long-term structural changes, ensuring that the NBA maintains integrity and fan trust in its competitions.
