New NBA anti-tanking rules 'create more problems than they solve'
Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz react to the NBA’s new lottery system that is designed to discourage teams from tanking for higher draft picks. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV .
Video Transcript
The NBA's Board of Governors has passed new anti-tanking rules that include expanding the draft lottery from 14 to 16 teams, a relegation zone where the bottom three teams get penalized with lessened chances for the number one pick, and flattened odds, sources told Shams at ESPN.
And look, we talked a little bit about this.
We knew this was coming, Caroline, but as I saw it actually pass through, I don't feel any better about it today than I did the day we saw it.
What I hate about this is that there is a world where a playoff team could get the number one overall pick.
We saw it this past year with Phoenix Suns.
If you're the eighth seed, you will get a ping pong ball.
Let's go back to 2020 and the bubble playoffs.
The Miami Heat were an eighth seed that got all the way to the NBA Finals.
So in this new draft system, there is a world where the Miami Heat, who played for a championship and competed in the NBA Finals, could have had the number one overall pick.
Tell me how that makes sense.
Tell me how that makes this sport better.
Tell me how that makes the NBA significantly more intriguing or a better product.
Tell me how that serves basketball fans.
It doesn't.
It doesn't make any sense.
And I know, I know that the Heat as an eighth seed going to the finals is the exception and not the rule.
But the fact that we could live in a world where that is even a possibility, I think is so wrong and I think is so short-sighted.
And I think that you're creating more problems than you're actually solving.
Because Fitz, I as a basketball fan, I don't care if you want to tank.
Like, I don't care if the Sacramento Kings who suck want to tank to get the number one overall pick.
I don't care if the Wizards who stunk this year want to tank to get the number one overall pick.
I don't care because I'm not worried about the bad teams in the NBA.
And if you're worried about the bad teams in the NBA, you're worrying about the wrong thing.
I care about the OKCs and the Celtics and the Knicks and the Spurs and the Nuggets of the world.
I don't care about the Wizards and the Kings of the world because nobody cares about the worst teams.
I just think it is wrong.
I think it's backwards.
And I think you're doing a disservice to the teams that are actually bad when you don't incentivize being one of the worst teams.
