Former NBA Star Hypothesizes on How to Fix Tanking

The NBA has a real problem with tanking. For years and years, the league has been trying to address the issue that a large portion of its teams are actively trying not to win games for most or part of the season. The second half of the NBA season is a way worse product than the beginning. That’s because on any given night, a large portion of the games may be between one team that wants to win and another team that wants to lose. 

This causes teams like the Washington Wizards or Utah Jazz to actually sit their star players down the stretch of the season. Obviously, it’s just a good strategy for them, but the NBA cannot allow teams to continue to be incentivized by losing. 

Former NBA star and now NBA media member Richard Jefferson recently spoke about how he would fix this major issue. 

“There was a thing in soccer. It’s like once you are eliminated from the playoffs, you should actually be given points towards your percentage for the games you win. Does that make sense? So, if you’re eliminated from the playoffs and there’s 10 games left, if you go 0 for 10, you should have a lower percentage of getting a higher pick. If you go 6 and 4 in your last 10, that means you are trying to win. The wins give you closer percentage to a higher pick. So those 6 wins instead of you having a 30% chance, right? If you go 0 for 10, if you can win 6 of your last 10 after you been eliminated, you actually have a 35% chance. So they reward you for pushing all the way to the end.”

It’s interesting to hear all the different ways people would stop tanking. For whatever reason, Adam Silver and the league haven’t felt like they need to make any major changes to disincentivize tanking. Until they do, an idea like this likely won’t even be considered.