Adam Silver Says He Could Further Punish Tanking Teams in New Lottery

Adam Silver says the NBA has power beyond just fines to crack down on tanking.

In February, the league fined the Pacers and Jazz six figures each for resting key players—in Utah’s case, in the fourth quarter of a close game.

Silver went on Stephen A. Smith’s radio show Wednesday and said he could make even more aggressive interventions.

“If we do see that type of behavior where there’s a sense that teams aren’t going all out to win, that we can actually take away draft lottery balls, we can change the order of the draft,” Silver said. “Teams have to know it’s not just about paying a financial fine—which they may think is worth it in order to get a top pick—but that it’ll directly impact their ability to get a top draft pick.”

Silver also confirmed the league’s proposed ‘3-2-1’ lottery system will be presented to owners at the end of the month. The new system, should it pass, will expand the lottery from 14 teams to 16, further flatten the lottery odds and introduce a “relegation zone” that will give the bottom three teams a lower chance at the No. 1 pick than teams 4–10.

Team executives previously told Front Office Sports that the bottom three teams not having the highest odds was their biggest issue with Silver’s proposal. “That aspect doesn’t make sense to me,” one executive told FOS.

Silver told Smith, “We’re still playing a little bit with the system there.”

On Sunday, the Wizards won the league’s draft lottery after finishing with the worst regular season record of 17–65. A year ago, the Mavericks won the lottery despite a 1.8% chance of doing so and none of the teams who tanked were rewarded for it. This year was the opposite.