Adam Silver stopped managing tanking; he started threatening it. Amid an “epidemic” of teams deliberately losing to prioritize long-term rebuilds, the NBA commissioner decided to attack the problem at its root, starting with a clear warning to team owners.
The NBA has tolerated lengthy rebuilds for years; however, what’s happening now has pushed Silver to the limit of his patience, and he decided to draw the line in the sand.
There’s no single strategy. From benching star players in the final minutes to placing healthy players on injured lists, general managers and coaches always find a way to lose, all to improve their chances in the draft lottery.
Amid this landscape, and with business partnerships that depend on honest results, Silver abandoned his usual diplomatic approach, adopting an almost threatening tone.
Silver’s warning to NBA owners
On February 10, NBA Executive Vice President Evan Wasch convened a video conference with team owners to discuss the anti-tanking strategies the league will implement.
“You could assume for next season your only incentive will be to win games,” Wasch warned, according to sources close to the meeting, in statements to The Athletic.
Not all attendees responded positively to the warning. Sean Marks, general manager of the Nets, cautioned that a drastic change to the rules would harm teams undergoing long-term rebuilds.
But Silver isn’t backing down. Addressing the assembly directly, he warned that teams must change their mindset and their incentives, starting with the general managers.
Silver’s plan to end tanking
According to some analysts, fines like those recently levied against the Jazz and Pacers for tactics aimed at losing are just the beginning of Silver’s offensive.
At the meeting, the NBA brass detailed the measures they will begin implementing immediately:
Limit pick protections to top-4 or late-round ranges
Freeze lottery odds at the trade deadline
Ban consecutive top-four picks
Prevent conference finalists from drafting top-four the next year
Use two-year records to determine odds
Include play-in teams in the lottery
Flatten odds across non-playoff teams
Silver made it clear that the war against tanking has just begun, and he doesn’t intend to back down.
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