NBA Draft Lottery: League reportedly focused on 18-team revamp in effort to curb tanking

NBA Draft Lottery: League reportedly focused on 18-team revamp in effort to curb tanking

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has one goal in mind when the league hosts a general managers’ meeting Tuesday: To put an end to tanking.

The league and its general managers are expected to discuss methods to curb tanking Tuesday, which could include a significant revamp to the NBA Draft Lottery.

While the NBA has presented a few proposals aimed at changing the lottery, the “heavy frontrunner” reportedly involves a draft lottery that will feature 18 teams and altered odds, according to The Athletic.

In that option, 18 teams would be included in the lottery portion of the draft. That would differ from the current format, which features 14 teams. Additionally, the odds for the top pick would be altered. In the 18-team proposal, the bottom 10 teams would all have an eight percent chance at landing the No. 1 overall pick. The remaining 20 percent “would be divided among the remaining eight teams,” per The Athletic. Under the current lottery system, the three worst teams have a 14 percent chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick and the rest of the teams in the lottery have declining odds.

While the league and its general managers will reportedly discuss that — and other — proposals Tuesday, an official vote isn’t expected until the Board of Governors meetings in May.

The 18-team NBA Draft Lottery isn’t a new idea. It was first reported in March, when the league proposed multiple changes to the lottery at a Board of Governors meeting in an effort to curb tanking. Two other proposals were mentioned at that meeting. One was a slightly different format that included 18 teams. The other was a 22-team draft lottery.

If any changes are made to the lottery, they would go into effect next season, per The Athletic. In order for the league to alter the draft lottery, a total of 23 or more owners would have to vote in favor of adopting the new proposal.

Moving to an 18-team lottery wouldn’t completely solve the tanking issue, though the altered odds could make it so bad teams are more competitive down the stretch, as losing the most games in the league would have less of an advantage.

Silver has levied fines against some teams for engaging in tanking tactics in recent seasons, including both the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers.