Want to eliminate tanking in the NBA? Get rid of the draft

During a conversation with Phoenix Suns employees, NBA commissioner Adam Silver floated the idea of relegation to prevent NBA teams from tanking.

Conversations around tanking are heightened this season as 7-foot 4 prospect Victor Wembanyama enters the 2023 draft.

French prospect Victor Wembanyama is considered
a franchise altering player.
Credit: Houston Chronicle

The French star has been described as an ‘alien’ by LeBron James and his exhibition game against fellow draft entry Scoot Henderson and the G League Ignite team only increased the hype around the player.

In order to secure the best drafting odds to select the Frenchman, many NBA teams are thought to be purposefully losing games. To prevent this commissioner Silver suggested that relegation, a concept from European football, should be implemented in the American basketball league.

It would mean the teams that win the least matches at the end of the season would be removed from the NBA and their space would be taken by the winningest G League teams. However, Silver went on to admit that demoting teams would be ‘destabilizing’ to the league.

The idea of relegation is yet another concept from European football that Adam Silver is trying to incorporate into the NBA.

Adam Sliver has been the commissioner of the NBA
since 2014.
Credit: USA Today


The commissioner has regularly stated his desire to introduce a mid-season tournament to the league similar to the Carabo Cup in England. However he isn’t willing to relinquish any of the current 82 regular season games to incorporate it.

One clear difference between a mid-season tournament in the NBA and English football is that a mid-season tournament in the NBA will feature the same thirty teams unlike English football where teams from the Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two could be featured, showing synergy across the sport and offering fans thrilling match ups.

While attempting to accommodate elements of European football that may not be suitable to the NBA, Adam Sliver is overlooking a key aspect that could eliminate tanking – Getting rid of the draft.

European football teams have academy’s where they nurture and develop young talent, specifically for their team, for years until they are ready to go pro.

This is something that the basketball association is starting to do through the launch of NBA Academy Africa, which trains the top male and female prospects in a training centre in Senegal.

Introducing academies in each team means they are forced to develop talent for the long-term success of their franchise instead of drafting players solely for their current needs.

And without the guarantee of getting new talent at the end of the season, teams will have to look inwards at their scouting and their player development strategies to ensure the success of their team.

It’s debateable how good NBA teams actually are at developing new talent to begin with. In a YouTube short, podcast Through The Wire discussed which teams are bad at developing players.

The list included the Sacramento Kings, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers. The discussion continued in the comments with viewers adding the Philadelphia 76ers to the list.

A case can be made for all of these teams and more, which is too long a list for league whose future is predicated on young talent.*

Introducing, more appropriately, removing the draft from the NBA will not only eradicate tanking but also will give young players a good support system that could nurture them on and off the court. It could also make long term success in the league more likely as currently the average career span of an NBA player is only 4.5 years.

Due to social media, the pressures and attention paid to young stars is constantly increasing and is starting at a younger age. Having a basketball academy could help young stars better prepare for the onslaught of attention from traditional and digital media outlets.

Perhaps my idea is too destabilizing to the NBA as it would alter the ways that trades are made as well as the role of college basketball. However it removes the element of tanking from the NBA and hopefully make the regular season more competitive.



(Updated 13/02/2022: I'm still trying to think of league that isn't predicated on young talent but my point still stands.)

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