Sources: NBA eyes new anti-tanking proposal for draft lottery
The NBA has revealed to its 30 basic managers a new anti-tanking draft reform ended the “3-2-1 lottery” that features increasing the lottery to 16 groups, flattened odds and a relegation zone the place the underside three groups could be penalized with fewer lottery balls for the No. 1 decide, beginning with the 2027 draft, sources instructed ESPN on Tuesday.
The league workplace has held a number of crucial conferences with its board of governors, competitors committee and 30 basic managers over the previous few weeks to slender towards this new singular proposal forward of the house owners having a closing vote on May 28, sources stated. There might be minor modifications to the proposal, however the important thing factors of the framework have a majority of the assist from groups, in accordance with these sources.
The “3-2-1 lottery” proposal, named to characterize the variety of lottery balls per workforce, would broaden the lottery from 14 to 16 groups. Teams that don’t qualify for the playoffs or play-in match however keep out of the relegation zone (spots 4 via 10) would obtain three lottery balls every. Teams with a bottom-three file — the relegation space — would have solely two lottery balls however have a flooring of the No. 12 decide, and the remainder of the 13 lottery groups might fall so far as the No. 16 decide.
The Nos. 9 and 10 play-in seeds in every convention obtain two lottery balls every, and the losers of the 7-8 play-in video games obtain one lottery ball every. Previously, the league drew odds for solely groups with the underside 4 data within the league, whereas the opposite 10 lottery groups had been ordered by reverse file. Under this proposal, all 16 groups could be within the drawing.
In addition, no workforce would be capable of win the highest decide in consecutive years or be capable of win three consecutive top-five picks. Teams would additionally not be capable of defend picks within the 12 to fifteen slots going ahead.
The proposal features a sundown provision in order that the new system would expire after the 2029 draft and permit the board of governors to proceed the system or transition to a new one. The NBA’s present collective bargaining settlement runs via the 2029-2030 season.
The league would even have expanded disciplinary authority to manage tanking and have the choice to scale back lottery odds and/or modify draft positions for groups beneath the proposal.
All the concerned events have brainstormed and developed a number of ideas over the previous few months earlier than discovering this 16-team reform that high-ranking officers throughout the NBA say they imagine will discourage shedding whereas drawing lottery balls for all 16 qualifying groups. It additionally encourages profitable, notably in the course of the second half of the season, because the groups ranked close to the underside three would need to get out of the relegation zone whereas groups above them work for victories to remain out of the relegation zone.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver made it clear in March that fixing tanking was his prime precedence and that there could be basic modifications to the league’s draft system to attempt to stop it from taking place transferring ahead. The tanking concern escalated this season due to the loaded 2026 draft class and since, as Silver identified, the incentives in place push groups to do no matter they’ll to maximise their possibilities of getting fortunate within the NBA’s draft lottery every spring.
“I do think ultimately this is a decision that needs to be made at the ownership level,” Silver stated following a two-day NBA board of governors assembly in March. “It has business implications, it has basketball implications, it has integrity implications for the league.
“So, it is one which we take very significantly, and we’re going to repair it. Full cease.”