The NBA has officially presented 3 anti-tanking proposals

The NBA has taken a firm step in its fight against “tanking”, presenting to its board of governors three completely new models to reform the Draft system. The ideas, still being fine-tuned before their vote in May, aim to fundamentally change the current incentives that drive some teams to deliberately lose games.

Commissioner Adam Silver has made it clear that the current system will not remain the same. The league aims to redesign the model with significant changes in the lottery, even including playoff teams in the selection process.

The three proposals share a common foundation: expanding the group of franchises with options in the lottery. From there, each model proposes a radically different approach.

The first includes 18 teams: the 10 worst ones that are left out of the play-in and the eight that do qualify for it. In this format, the worst ten would have identical chances to improve (8%), while the remainder would be distributed among the play-in teams. All positions would be determined by lottery.

A model inspired by the WNBA

The second proposal goes even further, incorporating 22 teams: in addition to the previous ones, the four eliminated teams in the first round of playoffs would also be included. Here, a novel element appears: the performance of the last two seasons would determine the weight in the lottery, following a system similar to that of the WNBA.

This method introduces a minimum number of wins per season to avoid extreme collapses. That is, even if a team records a very low win rate, it would be adjusted to a minimum threshold for lottery purposes, thus reducing the incentive to lose games massively.

The “five by five” system

The third alternative proposes a mixed model with the same 18 teams from the first scenario. The five worst records would have equal probabilities for the first five picks, which would be drawn independently.

Then, the remaining positions would be distributed in a second lottery among the other 13 teams. This system introduces an additional protection: it prevents the worst teams from falling too far down the final order, limiting their maximum descent.

In the upcoming weeks, owners, executives, and officials will thoroughly analyze each proposal with the league office. The goal is to identify potential side effects before making a final decision.

This reflection is not new: the NBA has been studying measures against “tanking” for months, although some initial ideas—such as limiting pick protections or setting probabilities on a specific date—have been left out of these final proposals.

Silver was firm in closing the meetings in New York: change is inevitable. The pressure generated by the race for the top spots in the 2026 Draft has accelerated a reform that, according to the league, will have both sporting and economic impacts.

“We are going to solve it,” stated the commissioner, making it clear that the incentive structure will change for the next season.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Las 3 propuestas anti tanking que ha presentado oficialmente la NBA