Shams reveals Adam Silver’s ‘losing’ mic drop on tanking

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Shams reveals Adam Silver’s ‘losing’ mic drop on tanking

Josue Pavon, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Wed, Apr 29, 2026 ·

3 min read

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Shams reveals Adam Silver's 'losing' mic drop on tanking appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

After revealing NBA commissioner Adam Silver 's 3-2-1 anti-tanking plan, ESPN's Shams Charania revealed that would further change the landscape of the league in the near future.

Silver is considering implementing relegation to the G League for tanking teams, Charnia said, per ESPN's Get Up.

"I have a quote from Adam Silver according to my sources on a recent league call that I was told. He said, "We should have a system where you should hate to lose. It shouldn't be a badge of honor to lose. Losing should be uncomfortable." And that's what is set up now," Charania said. "The first relegation of the bottom teams in the NBA, the first of its kind in American pro sports.

"And when I look at this model that the NBA has come up with, if Adam Silver could relegate teams to the G-League, he probably would. You look at the soccer model, but you he's not going to do that. But what you're going to see now under a new proposal that the NBA is zeroing in on, it's a 16-team lottery reform to curb tanking.

The official ruling will be put to a league-wide.

"May 28th, owners have to vote on this. But this is now something the NBA is zeroing in on," Charania added. "Flattened odds, 16 teams all being part of a a lottery drawing and penalizing the bottom three teams. Those bottom three teams. And whoever finishes with the three worst records in the NBA, right, has have the least amount of lottery balls for the number one overall pick."

Adam Silver's new '3-2-1' anti-tanking draft proposal

While taking in the NBA is a hot-button topic this season, NBA commissioner Adam Silver plans to get ahead of it before next season. Silver proposed his new 3-2-1 lottery format, per ESPN's Shams Charania.

"The '3-2-1 lottery' proposal, named to represent the number of lottery balls per team, would expand the lottery from 14 to 16 teams," reported Charania. "Teams that do not qualify for the playoffs or Play-In Tournament but stay out of the relegation zone (spots four through 10) would receive three lottery balls each.

"Teams with a bottom-three record, the relegation zone, would have just two lottery balls but have a floor of the 12th pick, while the rest of the 13 lottery teams could fall as far as the 16th pick," continued Charania. "The 9th and 10th play-in seeds in each conference receive two lottery balls each, while the losers of the 7-8 play-in games receive one lottery ball each.

"In addition, no team would be able to win the top pick in consecutive years or be able to win three consecutive top-five picks. Teams also would not be able to protect picks in the 12 to 15 slots going forward," finished Charania.

Ahead of what's anticipated to be one of the more talented draft classes in recent history, the NBA has been adament about making ample changes before the 2026-27 season.

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