• 🟢 18-team lottery: seeds 7–15 from each conference enter; 10 worst teams each get 8% chance at No. 1; remaining 20% split among next eight teams (decreasing by reverse standings); all 18 picks are lottery-drawn (no floor). #18teams_flattened
• ⚖️ Pros (18-team): includes play‑in teams to reduce incentive for bottom teams to tank; flattens top‑odds among worst 10 to discourage prolonged bottoming; drawing all 18 picks removes lottery floor and uncertainty-based guarantees. #18teams_flattened
• 🔻 Cons (18-team): shifts tanking incentive to mid‑tier/play‑in teams (can keep playoff revenue while chasing lottery); encourages mediocre teams to drop into play‑in range; worst play‑in teams could still tank into bottom‑10 despite flattened odds. #18teams_flattened
• 🔵 18-team 5x5 system: five worst teams share equal odds for No. 1; teams 6–18 assigned decreasing odds; first lottery picks 1–5 determined in initial draw, then picks 6–18 in second draw; five worst teams guaranteed top‑10. #18teams_5x5
• ⚖️ Pros (5x5): lowers the floor for five worst teams without eliminating it—gives desperate teams a soft landing; reduces incentive for play‑in caliber teams to tank out of postseason picture. #18teams_5x5
• 🔻 Cons (5x5): still incentivizes mediocre teams to tank into play‑in range; motivates bad teams to try to fall into bottom‑five to secure guaranteed top‑10. #18teams_5x5
• 🟣 22-team, 2‑year record: lottery includes 22 teams (10 non‑play‑in, 8 play‑in, 4 first‑round losers or an equivalent rule); odds based on two‑year records with a minimum win floor example (e.g., 20 wins); only top 4 picks drawn (current-style). #22team_2yr
• ⚖️ Pros (22-team): two‑year sample reduces reward for single‑season tanking and protects injury‑hit teams; win floor prevents benefit of fully bottoming; including first‑round losers gives more teams post‑season hope. #22team_2yr
• 🔻 Cons (22-team): may encourage multi‑year rebuilds/tanking; inviting 22 teams risks strong teams (recently good) winning lottery; known two‑year standings late in season could still enable deliberate losing to preserve lottery position; four‑pick floor remains. #22team_2yr
• 🧩 theScore’s hybrid proposal (Best of all worlds): 20‑team lottery (14 non‑playoff + six worst first‑round losers); uses two‑year records with 20‑win minimum per season; lottery draws top‑13 picks (worst team floor = 14th); rule preventing teams from drafting top‑3 in consecutive years. #best_of_all_worlds
• ✅ Key shared measures across concepts: include play‑in teams in lottery (reduce incentives to tank for worst record); use flattened or redistributed odds to discourage guaranteed top picks; consider multi‑year records or minimum win floors to limit single‑season tanking. #shared_measures
Pros and cons of the NBA's 3 anti-tanking options
https://thescore.com/nba/news/3511873
The fix is actually super easy: no more communism.
Just flip the draft order so the Champion gets the first pick, the runner up gets the second pick, and so on.
If there’s no incentive for losing then no one will do it on purpose.
I would flip the order for non playoff teams, #11 pick one
You can't give the best prospects to the champs
Want to end Communism, end the draft, kids enter as free agents and you buy them, like in the beautiful game
My only objection to ending the draft is that it’s good entertainment
Make the signing reveals in a TV show, teams send closed envelopes with there bids and it's all decided live, pure entertainment
An auction would be more interesting than a draft
The idea all the teams that have cap space are allowed to participate, the league select's the 60 best prospects, closed bids revealed, from the cheapest to highest. Would actually make teams respect the cap and be more "fair"
The cap space angle is the fix.
Most of the top teams are generally going to be out because they went all in on chasing the title.
And you could have refreshing free balance to next signing live in the broadcast, helping plebs get better at math, serves a social purpose in a capitalist way 😂
Plebs on the bleachers shouting CHEAP for the GMs would be awesome
heh that was my first thought too. or simply randomize the draft order.
one thing to keep in mind is that you'll still get bad teams getting more picks because they'll likely trade away good players now for contending teams' future picks
Randomizer would be a blast for conspiracy foes 😅😂🤣
it's win win win
gives the league plausible deniability to rig the draft however they want
gives the media something to talk about endlessly
gives fans something to blame for why their team sucks, and doesn't make them stop watching anyway
That’s fine. The result will be better good teams, which means better playoff series.
And you could do the snake by the end of first round, this way bad teams could get pick 30-31 and start creating the pillars to move up
I think if you are going to include playoff teams it should work like the NFL draft where the result of the playoffs factors into draft positioning. If 7-10 end up going on a run it the playoffs it should knock them out of the lottery.
Yeap sounds reasonable
Way to fix it...watch ACB insthead or Euroleague ;-)
European clubs have minor league as well, it's hard on NBA that the players come from college, you'll need to tweak something