Tanking in the NBA is obviously an issue. Even Adam Silver is trying to fix it (because DraftKings told him to, but still). However, he won't be successful in ending tanking. Why, you may ask? Because the incentives to tank can't or won't be removed.1. The lottery existsThis point may seem obvious, but as long as doing badly is rewarded, some teams will deliberately do badly. Silver is trying to mix up the odds so the absolute worst teams don't benefit as much as the "bad but not THAT bad" teams, but teams will figure out a way to game this system. Basically the only way to completely eliminate this issue is to remove the draft (not happening) or to give every single team in the league equal odds in the lottery (unlikely to happen soon).2. Basketball is a star-centric sportBasketball is fundamentally different from football and baseball in that a single superstar can carry an otherwise poor basketball team. A quarterback needs somebody to give the ball to and an offensive line that can protect him. A power hitter has to wait for the other eight batters to bat. But an elite basketball player can do any amazing amount himself: score, make plays, defend, etc. Because of this, getting good draft picks is much more important in the NBA than in the NFL or MLB; just look at the Spurs, who went from bums to what looks like a sure dynasty because of three lucky draft lotteries. This simply can't be changed without massive rule changes that would make basketball stop being basketball.(continued below)
3. Teams play too many games in the regular seasonEvery NBA team plays 82 games before the postseason even begins. This means that, by the time the "good teams" and the "bad teams" have firmly established themselves, there are still dozens of games left on each team's calendar. Once a team realizes that their season is basically over, they might as well tank; even if they didn't care about the draft, letting non-injured players sit is good for their long-term health. This happens in the NFL too, but because the NFL season has so few games compared to the NBA, even a bad NFL team might only tank for the last two or three games, holding out hope until then. This issue is the only one with an obvious solution that the fans and players would accept - shortening the regular season - but ironically, it's also the one which is least likely to be changed, simply because the league makes too much money from the bloated regular season.
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diddy blud wrote a novel here and still didnt explain what tanking meansis it when downlow niggas wear tanktops in the hood?
>>154864133Deliberately losing games because you want a better draft pick (worse teams have better odds in the draft lottery)
