NBA Declares War On Tanking: League Plans To Implement Anti-Tanking Rules - Report

Last Updated:February 20, 2026, 15:46 IST

Adam Silver warns NBA teams about tanking; next season may bring rule changes like freezing lottery odds and penalties for deliberate losing.

Let’s be honest: nobody enjoys watching their team “strategically rebuild" its way to the bottom of the standings.

It’s bad basketball, worse optics, and a long winter of deliberate losing. (Yes, we’re looking at you, Utah Jazz.)

Now, Adam Silver has had enough.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the NBA commissioner told the league’s 30 general managers on Thursday that anti-tanking rule changes are coming next season.

The league office has ramped up discussions with the board of governors, the competition committee and team executives, with formal proposals first floated during December’s ownership meetings.

Silver admitted during All-Star weekend that tanking is “worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory." January’s competition committee meeting reportedly zeroed in on the same issue.

So what’s on the table?

Among the ideas being explored:

• First-round picks protected only for top-four or top-14-plus slots
• Lottery odds freezing at the trade deadline (or later)
• No top-four selections in consecutive years or after back-to-back bottom-three finishes
• Conference finalists barred from drafting top four the following year
• Lottery odds based on two-year records
• Expanding the lottery to include all play-in teams
• Flattening lottery odds across the board

Translation: lose on purpose, and the reward may no longer be worth it.

The league has already shown it’s serious about curbing this practice. The Jazz and Indiana Pacers were fined $500,000 and $100,000, respectively, for violating player participation policies. Utah notably sat Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. for the entire fourth quarter of winnable games.

As the NBA returns from the All-Star break, no team is mathematically eliminated, but five clubs sit below a .290 winning percentage.

Silver’s message is clear: if you’re going to lose, at least try.

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