Overview
- Commissioner Adam Silver has signaled changes for next season, with owners expected to consider anti-tanking measures this summer, according to the column.
- Options shared with GMs include further flattening odds, limiting traded pick protections to 1–4 or to the lottery, blocking consecutive top‑four selections, freezing odds at a set date, and excluding conference finalists from top‑four picks.
- The column argues these tweaks address symptoms rather than causes and may extend losing cycles for small and mid‑market teams that rely on the draft.
- The proposed fix eliminates the lottery and returns to worst‑record‑picks‑first, paired with a one‑ or two‑year bar on repeat top‑four selections to discourage multi‑year tanking.
- As context, the piece notes recent years when the league’s worst team picked fifth and says a particularly deep current draft has amplified short‑term incentives to lose.