NBA's New Draft Lottery: Tanking Less Appealing

0:00On April 29th, the NBA is pushing hard against tanking with a new 16-team draft lottery called the 3-2-1 plan. It flans the odds for the number one pick, hitting the three worst teams hardest by dropping their chances from 14% to just 5. 4%. Those squads could even slide as low as 12th overall, making it way less appealing to lose on purpose. Lead general managers reviewed it Tuesday, and it'll head to the board of governors next month after more talks Thursday. This kicks in next year, after the current setup wraps up with this season's lottery on May 10th. The idea spreads lottery balls like this. Playing game seven-eight losers get one each. Seeds nine and ten get two, and most non-playoff teams get. 3. But the bottom three lose one ball in what's called draft relegation. Fans and the league got fed up this year with teams like Washington, Indiana, Utah, Memphis, and Brooklyn winning under 18% after the All-Star break worst ever.

1:00Utah even caught a $500,000 fine for resting stars late in games. Commissioner Adam Silver called out the backwards incentives, saying economists hate rewarding the worst records. Under the new odds, seven non-playoff teams skipping play-in actually snagged the best shot at 8.1% for number one. Playing nine-tens mashed the bottom three at 5.4%, while seven-eight losers get 2.7%. It's a big drop for tankers, with 72% odds of missing the top five. Silver vows to fix this for good. Adding rules like no back-to-back number ones. No trade protections on picks, 12-15. Tougher. Penalties for tanking, and a sunset after the 2029 draft. Expect owners to vote soon. This could reshape how teams chase that top talent without the quit. Global news today, powered by AI bringing you what matters worldwide. I'm Cory with the story.