The National Basketball Association presented three different anti-tanking strategies to team owners during a Wednesday meeting in New York, according to ESPN reporting.
Each proposed system shares a significant change from current practice: including teams that reach the playoffs in the draft lottery process.
The initial plan would expand lottery participation to 18 franchises — combining the 10 lowest-performing teams that fail to reach the play-in tournament with the eight squads that earn play-in spots. Under this system, the bottom 10 organizations would each receive identical 8% odds of advancing in the lottery, while the remaining 20% would be distributed among the eight play-in participants in reverse order from positions 11-18. Every position among these 18 spots would be determined through the lottery.
A second option expands participation to 22 franchises by adding the four playoff teams eliminated in the first round to the previous 18. Rankings would be determined using combined records from the previous two seasons.
This approach includes establishing a minimum victory requirement each season to prevent teams from deliberately losing excessive games. Under a hypothetical 20-win floor, a franchise finishing 14-68 would be calculated as 20-62 for lottery purposes. A team winning 20 games in year one and 40 in year two would be credited with 30 total victories. The first four draft positions would be selected through lottery drawing.
Sources described the third option to ESPN as a “five-by-five” system using the same 18 teams from the first proposal. The five worst-performing franchises would receive identical lottery chances, with decreasing odds for remaining teams. Separate drawings would determine the top five selections, followed by another drawing for the other 13 positions.
Teams among the five worst that don’t secure top-five picks would be guaranteed no worse than 10th position in the second lottery.
Commissioner Adam Silver informed owners Wednesday that changes are necessary following widespread criticism this season regarding teams positioning themselves for advantageous spots in the talent-rich 2026 draft class.
“I do think ultimately this is a decision that needs to be made at the ownership level,” Silver said. “It has business implications, has basketball implications, has integrity, integrity, implications for the league.
ESPN reports that modifications to all proposals are anticipated before owners conduct a formal vote in May.
