Bam Adebayo scored 83 points during the Miami’s Heat’s 150-129 triumph over the Washington Wizards on March 10. Two nights later Miami coach Erik Spoelstra used part of a press conference to defend the team’s decision to keep Adebayo on the court late in the fourth quarter against the Wizards, long after the outcome had been decided.
Some of Spoelstra’s comments unwittingly shined a light on a much bigger problem than Adebayo piling up points, however: Tanking.
“These are tricky games when you’re facing teams like that,” he said. “Teams that have nothing to lose and don’t play to win. … They’re not playing for anything. Their organization is trying to lose.”
Welcome to today’s NBA, where losing has become a strategic decision. The more a team loses, the better its chances are of selecting the league’s next superstar in the NBA Draft Lottery. And we’re not talking about a few teams at the bottom of the league standings tanking either. It’s much worse than that.
According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, the 2025-26 regular season was the first time in NBA history that at least eight of the league’s teams lost two-thirds of their games.There’s evidence to suggest many of those teams sacrificed victories to enhance their position in the lottery.
Tanking, coupled with load management, has created a public relations problem for the NBA, and something much worse: an integrity problem.
Attending an NBA game can be like going to a steak house, only to see no steak on the menu. Many superstars don’t play, and many teams don’t try. Fans often don’t get what they came for.
Load management is a problem NBA commissioner Adam Silver can tackle on another day. Right now dealing with the “tanking” issue is at the top of his to-do list.
“We are going to fix it,” Silver said at the league’s board of governors meeting last month. “Full stop.”
Suggestions have poured in regarding how to “fix” tanking. A few plans the NBA is reportedly considering were leaked by the media. Most of them will give you a popsicle headache.
One good solution was put forth by former NBA player Charles Barkley, who proposed that the league shouldn’t allow teams that finish below the .500 mark to raise ticket prices. That’s something we can all get behind. He also suggested that each team in the lottery should have an equal chance of obtaining the top overall pick, instead of rewarding the worst teams with a higher probability of drafting first overall.
How about we take it a step further and eliminate the lottery and all the dizziness that comes with it. If almost half of the teams in the NBA have a chance to land the top pick then each of those teams has an incentive to tank.
Admittedly, some tanking would remain, since adding a top draft pick can change the fortunes of a NBA franchise more than it would help a struggling team in the NFL or MLB. That’s why you see very little tanking – relatively speaking – in those sports, both of which allow teams to draft in reverse order of their regular season record.
It’s not a perfect solution, but it would be a significant step in the right direction.
If there’s a better idea out there we haven’t heard it. At least this way the NBA wouldn’t be rewarding bad behavior.
