Charles Barkley’s solution to fixing tanking in the NBA: “That is the fair way to do it”

Tanking has once again become one of the NBA’s biggest talking points, with multiple teams accused of prioritizing draft position over winning games during the 2025–26 season. Now, Charles Barkley has offered a blunt, and characteristically direct, solution.

Speaking on Inside the NBA, the Hall of Famer laid out several ideas to combat the growing issue, focusing on fairness to fans and accountability for teams.

Barkley’s core argument: fairness to fans

Barkley didn’t hold back when addressing teams that appear to be deliberately losing games, arguing that the practice damages the integrity of the league.

“It’s not fair to the game first and foremost. It’s not fair to your fanbase,” Barkley said.

With the NBA continuing to explore potential changes to its draft lottery system, tanking remains a central issue, one that has proven difficult to eliminate despite previous reforms. While Barkley also floated ideas around financial accountability, his most direct proposal targets the draft lottery itself.

He suggested removing weighted odds entirely and giving every non-playoff team an equal chance at the No. 1 pick.

“Teams have just been tanking for 3 months. Every team who does not make the playoffs should get 1 ball,” said Barkley. “You can’t improve your chances losing. Every team gets one ball. That is the fair way to do it... Only with our stupid NBA crap. Come on man. Just give everybody one ball and that would stop tanking.”

Under that system, losing games would no longer improve a team’s draft position, eliminating the primary incentive to tank late in the season.

A financial angle to stopping tanking

Barkley also proposed a second solution focused on holding teams accountable off the court, particularly when it comes to fans.

“You cannot raise your ticket prices if your team is below .500,” he said.

He added that the idea shouldn’t be limited to basketball: “I think they should make that a rule in every sport.”

The approach would tie a team’s financial decisions directly to on-court performance, discouraging franchises from putting out non-competitive rosters while still charging premium prices.

Why tanking remains a problem

Tanking has long been tied to the NBA’s draft structure, which rewards teams with worse records by giving them better odds at landing top prospects. Even with recent lottery changes designed to flatten those odds, teams still benefit, at least to some degree, from losing, particularly in tightly contested draft races.

That dynamic has led to recurring debates around whether the system needs a more fundamental overhaul. Barkley’s proposals highlight two different paths the league could take: adjusting the draft system itself or targeting the financial incentives tied to losing.

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