The NBA has proposed harsher penalties for tanking teams, including the potential loss of first-round draft picks, alongside three lottery reform options. Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the issue at a press conference on Wednesday, pledging to fix it. Owners will vote on measures at a meeting in May.
At its board of governors meetings this week, the NBA presented proposals to combat tanking, going beyond past lottery reforms. According to The Athletic's Joe Vardon, the measures include empowering commissioner Adam Silver to strip a team of its first-round draft pick, move it to the end of the lottery or first round, or impose multimillion-dollar fines on teams that hold out players or limit minutes to lose games and boost lottery odds. A league source told The Athletic, 'Without stricter penalties, you could still have crazy behavior. You have to have something in place that is so drastic, a team would actually think twice about tanking.'
