Right now, there are teams in the NBA that are intentionally losing games. Fans of these teams pay money to watch games where the players are working hard, yet the team is still trying to lose.
“Tanking,” which has become a major concern for the NBA over the last few years, is when a team loses games intentionally in order to get better draft position. While no league executive would ever admit that his/her team is tanking, it is widely known and accepted that it occurs. Despite this, the league still has yet to acknowledge that there is even an issue. Earlier this year, Commissioner Adam Silver claimed that no teams are trying to tank. Anyone who has paid any attention to the Philadelphia 76ers or the Orlando Magic over the past few years knows that Silver is wrong.
Over the last five seasons, at least eight teams showed signs of tanking, meaning that up to 25% of the league intentionally lost games. But according to Silver, there is no tanking. The Sixers recently traded two of their most promising players for draft picks — but there is no tanking. The Magic waived or traded all of their veterans and spent two years focusing on the draft — but there is no tanking. The league has to recognize and respond to this important issue.
The first step in preventing tanking is understanding what motivates teams to do it. Look at the Magic as an example. In the summer of 2012, the team traded disgruntled superstar Dwight Howard. Orlando was no longer in position to contend for a championship, and had to look at its options.
The team could have kept the players they had and tried to make the playoffs as a low seed, hoping to attract a superstar in free agency. This would have been a risky strategy because Orlando is a small market and does not have a championship history that could attract star players. Another potential strategy could have been to trade for a superstar. However, there are very few superstars on the trading block and there is always a risk of them leaving in free agency. So, Orlando chose the best option they had: trade away their good players and pray for ping pong balls for a couple of years.
If the NBA is going to eliminate tanking, then the draft needs to change. Losing is incentivized for teams not good enough to contend for a championship. While the worst team rarely gets the number one pick, they are guaranteed to select in the top four, which is a risk worth taking for most teams. The league had a chance earlier this season to even out the lottery, but those changes were voted down. Here are a couple of ideas that the league should consider for future seasons:
A Lottery Tournament: What if the 14 lottery teams held a tournament that would determine draft order? This would definitely stop teams from stripping themselves completely of talent, as the Sixers have done. While some general managers might still decide to tank, there would be fewer 15-20 win teams. So, while the lower rung of teams may not have enough talent to make the playoffs, they can at least be competitive for the fans.
Separate the lottery by tiers: If the bottom five or six teams all have an equal chance at the first pick, then teams would not be motivated to be the worst in the league. Bad teams would still look towards the draft, but they wouldn’t be as pressured as they are now to lose as many games as possible.
Fine teams for tanking: The NBA could create a committee that determines the teams that are truly tanking and fining them. Some teams tank because their owners do not want to pay for stars in free agency, but if they are fined for not chasing talent, then they may think twice before instructing management to focus on the draft.
The NBA has many issues, but no issue is as prevalent as tanking. The league cannot continue to ignore how many teams intentionally lose. It is not fair to the fans, to the players, and, most of all, to the sport.