Over the years, more and more NBA fans have become educated about the league and its policies. Nowadays, even an average NBA fan could tell if a team is taking or not. However, Isiah Thomas believes it's very possible that some fans don't understand what taking really means.
Thomas is one of the legends who have seen the game from different perspectives - as a player, coach and executive. According to Zeke, tanking essentially involves making certain decisions ahead of time in the hope of gaining an advantage in the future, after teams realize they won't find much success in the season.
However, Thomas refuted the notion that teams rigged the outcome of their games by purposely not competing to win. For Zeke, it's probably a misconception about the limitations and extent of tanking.
"In terms of what is described or labeled as tanking, some organizations understand that during this period of time, particularly this late in the season, you like to have the chance or opportunity to look at some of your younger players that haven't had the opportunity to play so you can evaluate them," Thomas explained to Slam Magazine in 2014.
"If teams have decided at the start of the season that the season wasn't going to be as fruitful as they hoped it would be, then teams will try to make changes and trades during the season," he continued. "I don't think any team or organization goes out to intentionally lose a basketball game. The other team may have more talent than you and consequently the results are the results, but I've never seen teams, players or coaches go out and intentionally try and lose a game."
Thomas could either be precise or not with his definition of tanking in the NBA . Regardless of what it truly means, some legends are strongly opposed to this controversial practice . Among them is one of Thomas' most famous contemporaries, Larry Bird.
Like Zeke, Larry Legend was also a player, coach and executive. For Bird, no explanation or definition would give justice to what tanking does to the league.
"It makes me sick to my stomach," Bird told ESPN of tanking in 2015. "For somebody that's been in this league for over 30 years, I don't think that's the way you do things, but that's my opinion. Everybody else has got their opinion. I've read in the past here where people thought we should lose on purpose. I don't believe in that. I've never believed in that. If I ever get that way, I'll be out of the game."
Technically, tanking isn't illegal in the NBA, but the league has been making an effort to control it. To do so, the NBA has established fines and sanctions for teams that are caught tanking after a thorough investigation.
For instance, Mark Cuban was fined $600,000 back in 2018 for publicly stating, "losing is our best option." The comment implied that the Dallas Mavericks are aiming to improve lottery odds, and the NBA reprimanded the team.
More recently, the Utah Jazz was fined $100,000 during the 2023-2024 season after being caught violating the NBA's player participation policy by holding out star player Lauri Markkanen in a late-season game.
In conclusion, the NBA isn't encouraging tanking, but the sad truth is that they can only hope teams never go out of their way.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 4, 2025, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
