The NBA has officially decided it has seen enough tanking.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the league’s Board of Governors overwhelmingly approved major draft lottery reform Thursday in what amounts to one of the boldest anti-tanking measures in modern American professional sports.
The vote reportedly passed 29-1, with the Memphis Grizzlies casting the lone vote against the proposal.
Under the new system, the NBA Draft lottery will expand from 14 to 16 teams while also introducing what the league is calling a “relegation zone” for the bottom three teams in the standings.
Those teams will now receive reduced odds at landing the No. 1 overall pick.
The updated format also includes flattened lottery odds overall in an effort to discourage teams from aggressively bottoming out late in the season.
Per Charania, the changes come after months of meetings and discussions involving league officials, owners and team executives following growing frustration around blatant tanking behavior during the second half of this past season.
At one point, league observers estimated nearly 8-to-10 teams were jockeying for lottery positioning down the stretch.
The new “3-2-1” lottery structure will begin with next year’s NBA Draft and is expected to remain in place through at least 2029.
In short, the NBA is no longer just discouraging tanking. It’s actively trying to punish it.
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