NBA Considers Major Changes to Combat Teams Deliberately Losing Games

The NBA is addressing the growing problem of teams intentionally losing games to improve draft position. Commissioner Adam Silver says the league is examining new measures to prevent this practice, which has become more prevalent this season.

Several compelling matchups are scheduled for Wednesday across the NBA.

The Hawks will travel to face Detroit, putting a surging Atlanta squad against a Pistons team working to secure the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Boston will host Oklahoma City in a clash between the league’s two most recent title winners. Minnesota and Houston will square off in a contest that could significantly impact playoff positioning in the West.

Meanwhile, Washington will face Utah, matching a team currently enduring a 16-game losing streak against a franchise that would clearly benefit from securing one of the league’s five worst records this season.

League officials are once again addressing the persistent issue of deliberate losing during this week’s board of governors gathering in New York. The NBA has modified its draft lottery system multiple times in recent years, and more substantial reforms appear imminent. While final decisions may not emerge this week, changes are definitely coming.

“Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory? Yes, is my view,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated last month, emphasizing that the league is “going to be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season in terms of teams’ behavior, and very intentionally wanted teams to be on notice.”

Silver is scheduled to address media members on Wednesday, with expansion plans expected to dominate headlines as league governors prepare to vote on advancing toward adding new franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle.

However, after expansion discussions conclude, the topic of intentional losing will resurface once more.

This season has featured three separate 16-game losing streaks. Washington is currently experiencing one, Indiana recently ended such a stretch with a dramatic victory in Orlando on Monday night despite being a Finals team last year before Tyrese Haliburton’s Achilles injury in Game 7, and Sacramento endured a winless 16-game span during January and February.

“We’ve got to get some wins, man. We’ve got to keep building as a team,” Indiana forward Pascal Siakam expressed during his televised court-side interview following the Orlando victory. “It’s been tough. It’s been a tough year for us, man. It shows your character. It tests you. But that’s life.”

Deliberate losing has dominated conversations throughout the season. Brooklyn owner Joe Tsai acknowledged in the fall that the Nets are in rebuilding mode, highlighting that despite having five first-round selections in last year’s draft, they possess only one this year.

“We hope to get a good pick,” Tsai revealed at the All-In Summit. “So, you can predict what kind of strategy we will use for this season.”

The Nets entered Tuesday with a 17-55 record, ranking as the league’s third-worst team. Under current lottery rules, this position would guarantee Brooklyn the maximum 14% odds of securing the top draft selection.

Utah received a $500,000 penalty last month for failing to utilize its top players during fourth quarters, including one game the Jazz actually won against Miami. Washington’s ongoing 16-game slide represents the franchise’s fourth such streak in slightly over two years, a level of consistent failure matched just once previously in league history. Notably, in Washington’s three other 16-game losing streaks since 2023-24, the team won the 17th game.

Finishing among the league’s bottom five teams would provide Utah with a 99.4% probability of earning a top-eight draft pick; otherwise, that selection would transfer to Oklahoma City.

Jazz owner Ryan Smith responded to the $500,000 fine through social media, writing in part “agree to disagree … Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense.”

“Agree to disagree” could serve as the unofficial slogan for intentional losing. The practice continues regardless of opinions about it.

Pinpointing exactly when deliberate losing began remains impossible, though it dates back at least to 1982 when an owner publicly declared that finishing last would be beneficial.

That owner was Donald Sterling, who led the then-San Diego Clippers and quickly received a $10,000 fine for his recorded comments. Sterling was expelled from the league in 2014 and forced to sell the Clippers after making racist remarks.

Sterling’s 1982 tanking target was Ralph Sampson, Virginia’s dominant center. Sampson ultimately remained in college another year, partly because the draft entry deadline preceded the coin flip determining whether the Clippers or Lakers would receive the first pick. Sampson refused to risk joining the Clippers; ironically, the Lakers won the coin toss regardless.

The strategy failed then and doesn’t guarantee success now. Yet more than forty years later, the issue persists.