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NBA owners approve new 3-2-1 anti-tanking draft lottery reform
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NBA owners approve new 3-2-1 anti-tanking draft lottery reform appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The NBA Board of Governors approved a new anti-tanking draft reform on Thursday that will expand the NBA Draft Lottery to 16 teams, flatten odds, and add other measures that completely revamp the lottery from the current system.
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In what has been coined the “3-2-1” proposal, 16 teams will now make up the NBA Draft Lottery, with substantial changes coming to not only prevent the worst teams in the league from tanking, but incentivise them to play until the very end of the season.
After weeks of debate and refining the proposal at hand, the NBA Board of Governors voted to approve the new “3-2-1” lottery reform, which is exactly what it sounds like. A total of 37 lottery balls will be allocated to the 16 teams, with the bottom three teams in the league each receiving two balls, or a 5.4% chance.
Teams in the 4-10 range will each receive three balls (8.1% chance), the ninth- and tenth-place finishers in each conference will receive two balls (5.4% chance), and the loser of the 7-seed vs. 8-seed play-in game will each receive one ball in the lottery (2.7% chance).
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Under this new revamped format, all 16 spots in the NBA Draft Lottery will be determined by the drawing, with the three teams at the bottom picking no later than 12th overall.
The new “relegation zone” impacts the teams with the three-worst records in the NBA, as they will only receive two chances at the No. 1 pick in the draft compared to other non-play-in teams each receiving three chances. The 9th and 10th play-in seeds will each have two chances, and the losers of the 7-seed vs. 8-seed game will have one chance.
Those draft-relegated teams will receive, at worst, the No. 12 pick in the NBA Draft. All other lottery teams can fall as far as the No. 16 pick.
There are also new stipulations on protecting picks that are to be traded.
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However, the biggest caveat that comes with this new approved draft format revolves around the idea of trades and previous years being taken into account. The 2025 and 2026 NBA Drafts will be taken into account for positioning purposes on upcoming selections, as teams will not be allowed to receive the No. 1 overall pick two years in a row.
Essentially, this means that the Washington Wizards would not be allowed to receive the No. 1 pick in the 2027 NBA Draft since they won the lottery this year. Teams will also not be allowed to receive top-five pick in three consecutive years, which will now be backdated to 2025.
Also, teams will not be allowed to receive a top-5 pick in three consecutive years. This vote on Thursday was approved 29-1, with the Memphis Grizzlies being the lone team to vote no on the new proposal.
The main reason for this is because the Grizzlies own a swap with the Utah Jazz for the 2027 NBA Draft, and the Jazz received a top-5 pick in back-to-back years now. This pick that may be conveyed to Memphis as a result of the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade from February will be capped at sixth next year because under these new rules, despite the Jazz no longer controlling the pick, the restrictions still apply for the team that traded for it.
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The Grizzlies are the only team who will be impacted by this new rule being backdated to the 2025 and 2026 NBA Drafts.
As far as pick protections go, teams will be unable to protect picks top-12 through top-15 in the draft.
The second round of the NBA Draft is also changing with this new “3-2-1” proposal. The first 16 picks of the second round will be in inverse order of the first round, with the non-lottery teams following them in inverse order of their regular-season records.
Overall, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will have the final say in all tanking measures and he will be allowed to punish teams accused of abusing the new rules to try and improve their draft position/odds. This includes heft six-figure fines, as well as changing a team’s overall draft position as punishment for suspected tanking.
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According to the league, the NBA office has met with key stakeholders since October to discuss current competitive incentives and solicit ideas aimed at discouraging tanking. That process led to the creation of this new “3-2-1 Lottery.”
This new system will be in place starting with the 2027 NBA Draft and ending after the 2029 NBA Draft. Rules governing selection order beginning with the 2030 NBA Draft will be determined by a vote of the Board of Governors.
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