Adam Silver said the NBA may begin imposing harsher penalties on teams believed to be intentionally losing games in order to improve draft positioning.
The commissioner explained that financial fines alone may no longer be enough to discourage tanking and suggested the league could directly punish teams through draft-related penalties.
“Teams have to know it’s not just about paying a financial fine, which they may think is worth it in order to get a top pick, but that it’ll directly impact their ability to get a top draft pick,” Silver said. “We can actually take away draft lottery balls, we can change the order of the draft.”
Earlier this season, the Utah Jazz were fined $500,000 for conduct detrimental to the league.
Meanwhile, teams such as the Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies, Chicago Bulls, and Jazz all improved their lottery positioning late in the season.
Silver also acknowledged that NBA teams continuously search for creative ways to exploit the system.
“The teams are incredibly innovative and creative at coming up with ways to work the system,” Silver said. “This will give us time for additional study to see whether there are other creative ways to better distribute players.”
League executives reportedly believe the proposed lottery changes could also make teams more reluctant to trade away future first-round picks moving forward.
Adam Silver Says NBA’s ‘System Of Flat Odds’ Will Give Teams ‘No Particular Incentive To Be Bad’ https://t.co/2G5XC9lhNo
— RealGM (@RealGM) May 14, 2026
