NBA tanking solutions

Jacob Petrarca’s Solution

What is tanking? What do teams want to accomplish by tanking? They want higher draft picks, right? If the NBA wants to ban tanking, they need to create caution around long-term failings.

What I propose is simple. Punish teams for continued failure. The play-in system allows it so that 20 of the NBA’s 30 teams are left standing by the end of the season. There is no reason for teams to continually miss that low bar.

If a team misses the play-in round for five consecutive seasons, they forfeit their second-round draft pick. If a team misses the play-in round for ten consecutive seasons, they forfeit their first-round draft pick in addition.

Now, this isn’t the only way to incentivize teams to win. I also propose that if a team fails to win 15 games in a single season, or more than 10 in a row, they lose a second-round draft pick. They lose both in the event of a failure to win 10 games in a season or multiple losing streaks of 10.

Additionally, under this system, teams are not allowed to trade for or otherwise acquire forfeited draft picks.

It’s a bit harsh, but I think to combat this epidemic, the NBA needs to resort to harsh measures.

Brendan Kern’s Solution

Tanking in the NBA has turned the last 30 games of the regular season into a battle of wits between the bad teams: Which organization can better create ways for their team to lose games?

So, what’s the solution? It’s simple. Move the NBA lottery to take place during All-Star weekend.

This solves a lot of issues the NBA has. For one, All-Star weekend, an NBA event that has continually lost interest over the last decade, now has a new marquee event for fans to look forward to.

Additionally, the time that NBA teams can blatantly tank is diminished greatly. This season, we have seen the strategy of bad teams sitting their best players begin about a week and a half before the All-Star game. With this solution, we can estimate that teams would start this resting strategy around two weeks before the break.

Then, after the lottery takes place, teams have no reason to try to lose anymore. This leaves around two months and 25 games where every team should be competing to win, with no incentive to lose.

This doesn’t just make games watchable, but makes each one important.

The Cavaliers are in a battle to earn the two-seed in the East. Their final game of the season against Washington would no longer be a sleepwalk win, as the Wizards would be fighting tooth and nail to win, instead of trying to end the year with higher lottery odds.

Moving the lottery to All-Star Weekend would minimize the time that teams can tank, while also making the end of the regular season much more entertaining.

Jacob Petrarca is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jap6840@psu.edu.

Brendan Kern is a second-year majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact him, email bwk5372@psu.edu.