NBA Board of Governors to vote on draft lottery reform in May

The NBA is getting closer to doing something about tanking.

What exactly? Still being figured out.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the league’s Board of Governors is scheduled to meet on May 28, where a vote on draft lottery reform and new anti-tanking measures is expected.

That’s been building for a while.

Commissioner Adam Silver has made it clear the league wants to address the issue this offseason. It was a major topic at March’s Board of Governors meeting, and conversations haven’t slowed down since.

In fact, Charania said general managers were still discussing it as recently as Tuesday night. So yeah, this is active.

Lottery Changes Taking Shape

The NBA has already floated three different lottery reform ideas.

None are finalized.

And based on earlier reporting, none have exactly blown people away either. The response around the league has been described as lukewarm.

Still, one concept is starting to separate from the pack.

Charania said the idea gaining the most traction would expand the lottery to 18 teams and flatten the odds at the top. Under that format, the bottom 10 teams would each have an equal 8 percent chance at the No. 1 pick.

The remaining 20 percent? That would go to the eight play-in teams.

So instead of rewarding only the very worst teams, the system would spread things out a bit more.

That’s the goal, anyway.

Even then, don’t expect this exact version to be the final product. Charania noted the proposal would likely be tweaked before anything becomes official.

And whatever changes are made? They’re not coming immediately. In fact, nothing is expected to take effect before 2027.