Is tanking in the NBA out of control? This is the rumored change in the rules that the league might be considering

Tanking or the strategy of a team intentionally performing poorly, or fielding a deliberately uncompetitive team, to increase their odds of obtaining a high pick in the subsequent NBA Draft is a hot topic currently as the 2024-25 regular season moves into the final stretch.

This season it seems to have become accentuated given that so many teams are desperate to secure the services of the promising Duke University player Cooper Flagg.

Teams like the Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans have been suggested as the guilty parties when it comes to current NBA teams that many believe are tanking.

The league to act?

When questioned on the matter, Evan Wasch, the NBA’s executive vice president of strategy and analytics, told ESPN “I’m not aware of anyone making a serious push to eliminate our current philosophy of the draft, which is to award top picks to teams that are most in need of talent. “That is a fundamental tenet of our current draft system.”

He added when questions were raised about Utah Jazz fielding their strongest team: “We are not in the business of policing rotations in that way,” Wasch said. “For the league to step in and say that a team chose to play one player over another player and that was the wrong decision, I think that’s a bit of a slippery slope..."

Many NBA experts feel that a practical way to reduce the possibility of tanking would be removing mid-lottery pick protections. The options would be top-4 protected, lottery-protected, or unprotected.

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