The NBA board of governors has officially approved severe anti-tanking measures aimed at ending teams actively trying to lose games for the best odds in the NBA draft lottery.
“Overall, there will be flattened odds, but most importantly, the bottom three teams will be punished with lessened odds moving forward for the No. 1 overall pick,” ESPN senior NBA insider Shams Charania said on NBA Today. “It’s called a 3-2-1 lottery reform, because if you’re a bottom-three team, you will be penalized with fewer lottery balls (two) than other potential teams that are slotted 4-10. I’m told the vote passed 29-1.”
Charania revealed that, per his sources, the Memphis Grizzlies were the only team to vote against the measure after trading star forward Jaren Jackson Jr. to accumulate draft picks.
“They were the lone team to vote against, and that’s because they have the Utah Jazz’s pick next year… because of the new rule, which has a couple of stipulations: you can’t pick No 1 in back-to-back years. The second stipulation is that you can’t have a top-five pick in three consecutive years,” he added. “So that Jazz pick now won’t be a top-five pick. The Grizzlies are receiving the bad end of an unintended consequence.”
The wider NBA community is torn on what the measures mean for the league. Some believe that the reforms are too harsh, and now bad teams will be stuck in the dregs of the standings with no clear path out.
Reporter Brett Siegel noted that the reforms simply shifted tanking from bad teams to good ones. However, one fan noted that if this is indeed the case, any hope of a truly competitive league is already lost.
Y’all are saying that teams will punt on a chance at the playoffs. For a CHANCE at getting a #1 pick. No guarantee just a percentage point increase at a chance
Do yall not realize how crazy that is?
If thats the case the sport is poisoned beyond repair https://t.co/QLGFMXnJU5
— Future Of The Retro (@TraeK_) May 29, 2026
Ultimately, the new Measures are slated to be done on a three-year trial period. So, the league will be able to pivot if things go disastrously. In European soccer, the worst teams are relegated from the top leagues and have to earn their way back by winning. Lessened odds in the draft lottery seem like a slap on the wrist in comparison.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.