The NBA believes the best way to eliminate tanking is to remove the incentive altogether.
Speaking after the league approved its new “3-2-1” draft lottery system, NBA executive vice president of basketball operations James Jones explained why investigations and financial penalties were no longer viewed as effective solutions.
“Having done a lot of these investigations and inquiries with teams, when you get to the place of investigating your way to an outcome, it’s really hard to say that it’s just not coaching error, bad player performance or some underlying basketball thing,” said Jones.
“It’s all subjective. We want to be in a place where no matter the outcome of the game, you don’t feel like you’re better off if you lose. You can’t punish your way to that.”
According to Jones, determining whether a team is intentionally losing games often becomes impossible because there are legitimate basketball reasons for poor results, making enforcement highly subjective.
He also argued that fines are unlikely to discourage teams from pursuing valuable draft picks.
“The value of these picks and players is exponential. If it’s a $10 million fine, is it worth it to just take the fine?” said Jones.
Those concerns helped drive the NBA’s decision to adopt sweeping lottery reforms aimed at discouraging teams from prioritizing draft position over winning games.
Rather than relying on punishment, the league hopes the new system will eliminate the benefits of tanking altogether.
NBA Explains Why Lottery Reform, Not Punishments Were Needed To Deter Tanking https://t.co/KkFE3FPzrs
— RealGM (@RealGM) May 29, 2026
