If you’ve watched an NBA game recently and wondered why some teams seem to be actively trying to lose, you’re not alone and Commissioner Adam Silver is officially done pretending it isn’t a problem.
Silver informed all 30 general managers Thursday that the NBA intends to implement anti-tanking rule changes ahead of next season, according to sources. The message wasn’t casual. Silver was described as “forceful,” and the league’s intentions couldn’t be clearer: the era of teams comfortably racing to the bottom of the standings for lottery positioning is coming to an end.
The tanking problem, explained
For the uninitiated, tanking is the not-so-subtle practice of deliberately losing games to secure a better draft pick. It’s been a quiet, accepted part of NBA strategy for years but this season, Silver himself admitted it has been worse than anything seen in recent memory during his All-Star Weekend news conference, where he said he was considering every possible remedy to combat it.
The league isn’t just talking anymore. Last week, the NBA fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000 after both teams sat healthy players in recent games a direct signal that moves compromising the sport’s integrity will carry real financial consequences.
Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia turned up the heat further on Thursday, posting a lengthy statement calling tanking far more damaging than any prop bet scandal the league has faced. When team owners are publicly shaming the practice, it’s safe to say the pressure to act is building from every direction.
What rule changes are actually on the table
League conversations with the board of governors, competition committee, and general managers have been intensifying since December, when the NBA began floating potential concepts to ownership. A late January competition committee meeting and Thursday’s GM gathering have both featured serious discussion around a range of proposals.
Among the concepts being considered: limiting first-round draft pick protections to only top-four or top-14-plus selections, which would close some of the creative loopholes teams use to manipulate their draft positioning. There’s also a proposal to freeze lottery odds at the trade deadline or a later predetermined date, effectively locking in a team’s standing before the season’s final stretch becomes a deliberate race to the bottom.
Other ideas go even further. One concept would prevent a team from picking in the top four in consecutive years or after finishing in the bottom three of the league in back-to-back seasons. Another would bar a team from holding a top-four pick the year after reaching the conference finals a direct response to the jarring contrast of contending one year and bottoming out the next. Distributing lottery odds based on two-year records rather than a single season is also under consideration, which would make sustained losing feel less strategically rewarding.
Perhaps the most structurally significant proposals involve expanding and reshaping the lottery itself. One concept would extend lottery eligibility to include all play-in teams, while another would flatten the odds across all lottery teams removing the steep incentive that currently makes finishing last feel like a competitive advantage.
Silver’s message lands loud and clear
Silver wasn’t the only voice carrying weight in Thursday’s room. Mike Krzyzewski, the decorated college basketball coaching legend now serving as senior adviser to the NBA’s basketball operations department, delivered a pointed message of his own urging a prompt and tasteful approach to attacking the problem and calling on everyone involved to be ready to respond to whatever the league ultimately enacts.
That kind of language from both Silver and Krzyzewski signals this isn’t a slow-moving committee conversation. The league wants action, it wants it soon, and it wants every front office to understand that the rules of engagement are about to change.
What it means for teams building through the draft
For franchises currently in rebuild mode, this is a significant development. The draft has long been the primary vehicle for teams without financial flexibility or star-player appeal to compete for talent. If the league restructures lottery odds and adds restrictions on consecutive high picks, the calculus for how organizations approach multi-year rebuilds shifts considerably.
The coming months will reveal which specific proposals survive into formal rule changes, but the direction is unmistakable. The NBA is tired of teams treating losses like assets, and Silver has made clear he has both the authority and the appetite to do something about it.
For fans who’ve spent entire seasons watching their team intentionally stumble toward draft night, the change might feel long overdue. For front offices that built their entire rebuilding strategy around lottery positioning? It’s time to find a new playbook.
