Draft Shuffle: NBA Lottery Reform Shifts, Not Ends, Tanking
The NBA’s proposed '3-2-1' lottery expands the field to 16 teams and retools odds so the worst teams aren’t guaranteed top picks, aiming to curb tanking by shifting incentives. While it may reduce the worst forms of tanking and meaningless late-season games, the author argues it won’t eliminate tanking entirely and could create new incentives to lose, especially around the play-in. The piece suggests only flattening or abolishing the draft would truly end tanking, highlighting the ongoing tension between parity and rewarding winning.
