{"id":2007501,"date":"2026-06-24T00:41:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007501"},"modified":"2026-06-24T00:41:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:41:20","slug":"adam-silver-on-nbas-new-anti-tanking-rules-well-never-go-back-to-where-we-were","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007501","title":{"rendered":"Adam Silver on NBA\u2019s new anti-tanking rules: \u2018We\u2019ll never go back to where we were\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The NBA\u2019s new anti-tanking rules will be in place through the 2029 draft. After that, the league\u2019s board of governors will decide whether to keep it in place or find another system.<\/p>\n

Yet commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday night one thing is certain: \u201cWe\u2019ll never go back to where we were.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with ESPN before the draft, Silver said the age of teams fighting to see who could finish at the bottom of the league standings \u2014 and thus improve their chances of a better lottery spot \u2014 was over.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe ended up in a situation where fans of teams were actually rooting for their teams to be bad,\u201d Silver said. \u201cIt was particularly bad this year, I think, because of the perceived depth of (the 2026 NBA) Draft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the new rules, the bottom three franchises are considered in the \u201crelegation zone\u201d and drop from a previous 14 percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick to a 5.4 percent chance. The fourth- through 10th-worst teams now have 8.1 percent odds of landing the first selection.<\/p>\n

Silver has previously likened the incentives to those of European soccer, in which the bottom three teams in leagues get relegated to lower divisions. In the ESPN interview, he said any incentive to lose should be nullified and it had become a pervasive issue in the league that needed to be dealt with.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just caught up with us over the years,\u201d Silver said. \u201cIt was a practice by a very few teams over time where they could genuinely say they were rebuilding. Every team in all sports is focused on analytics, and everyone \u2014 sort of the guardrails went off \u2014 and said there\u2019s an advantage if you\u2019re not really good, to be really bad, and it doesn\u2019t work to be in the middle.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cSo once roughly a third of our teams were acting under those incentives, everyone came together, and I would say it was agreement across the league from every constituent group, but most importantly, our fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silver said the league remained committed to evaluating the rules after three years, since the draft remains one of the best avenues for struggling teams to improve by acquiring young talent. In theory, under the new system, teams that are genuinely trying to win but fall to a bottom-three record won\u2019t have as good a chance to get high enough picks to become competitive again and can get stuck in a cycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the agreement with the teams was that this system would be in place for three years,\u201d Silver said. \u201cIn essence, it\u2019s grandfathered in. We all agree that would give us an opportunity to assess how this is working, and also look at some other approaches, which we thought, in fairness, the teams needed to be built in over time.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBut most importantly, we will not be returning to a system where there is an incentive to be bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silver was also asked about the potential expansion of the league to 32 teams. In March, the NBA\u2019s board of governors approved a vote to explore bids and applicants for expansion teams exclusively in Las Vegas and Seattle. Silver said zeroing in on those cities was a show of intent and focus from the league. However, nothing has been decided.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were to expand, most likely in the 2028-29 season, I bet that\u2019s when they would come into the league, but no decisions have been made yet,\u201d Silver said. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve made clear to our teams, we\u2019ve at least specifically said it\u2019s Las Vegas and Seattle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at some other great cities that are interested in having franchises. We\u2019re focused on those two right now. We could decide ultimately to go to new cities. One or two bids are being solicited at this time. The groups are coming together, talking to bankers, talking to the league office, and I think what we\u2019ve said, in fairness to everyone, let\u2019s make a decision by the end of this calendar year, at the latest.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NBA\u2019s new anti-tanking rules will be in place through the 2029 draft. After that, the league\u2019s board of governors will decide whether to keep it in place or find another system. Yet commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday night one thing is certain: \u201cWe\u2019ll never go back to where we were.\u201d In an interview with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2007501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2007501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2007501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2007501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2007501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}