Tanking has become a bit out of hand over the past few years. The NBA has tried their best to remove the incentive for teams to lose their way to a top draft pick. One of the main ways has been to flatten the odds against the league’s worst teams. That change has done what the NBA hoped for as the Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks jumped up to the top overall pick, despite having slim chances.
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Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped teams from tanking; their methods have just changed. The most notable has been the approach the Utah Jazz have taken recently. After landing Jaren Jackson Jr. in a trade, it certainly increased their talent. However, they would play Jackson alongside Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George, but bench all three in the fourth quarters of close games.
The NBA noticed their attempts to purposely lose games and fined the franchise $500,000. More importantly, this opened NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s eyes to the problem that tanking is.
ESPN insider Shams Charania has reported that the league has begun preliminary conversations on ways to address this issue. It turns out that NBA legend Charles Barkley has a few ideas that could help.
“I don’t think any team can raise their ticket prices if they’re below .500,” Barkley said on Inside the NBA. “Every team in the lottery should get one ping pong ball. And if you trade a pick, it’s gone.”
Charles Barkley gives 3 ideas on how to fix tanking:
• Can’t raise ticket prices if you’re below .500
• Every lottery team gets ONE ping pong ball
• Remove pick protections in trades
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Barkley’s three solutions are certainly innovative ideas. His concept surrounding ticket prices would capture the attention of ownership, but would be hard for the league to pass, since it would directly impact the revenue stream. On the other hand, the idea that each lottery team receives one ping pong ball is interesting.
It has become quite rare for the worst team in the NBA to land the first overall pick. If all teams had the same odds, it most likely wouldn’t change the results we are currently experiencing. It will change the way teams approach the idea of losing as many games as possible.
The last solution Barkley proposed is that teams lose the ability to put protections on their draft picks, which has lost its original essence.
“Teams can manipulate if it falls in the top 3, 4 or top 7 protected,” Barkley proclaimed.
One of the best examples is the recent trade between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Indiana Pacers involving Ivica Zubac. The Pacers sent their 2026 first-round pick, which most likely will be a high lottery pick. However, Indiana put protections on that pick where it will only work for the Clippers if it lands between 5-9. Any other position and the pick goes back to the Pacers.
A trade like this fits under Barkley’s assessment of teams manipulating the system. Taking away protections could certainly help in that regard. Of course, there’s a good chance the league won’t listen to any of these suggestions. But it wouldn’t hurt to look into it at this point.
