The NBA Board of Governors on Thursday approved a “comprehensive reconfiguration of its draft lottery rules,” according to Vorkunov & Amick of THE ATHLETIC. The NBA will replace its previous draft lottery system, which gave the worst teams in the league the best chance at getting a high lottery pick, with a “new format that tries to divorce team performance from lottery luck.” The new design -- called the 3-2-1 system around the league -- will divide 37 lottery balls among 16 teams; the worst three teams will only get two ping pong balls each in the drawing, the teams with the seven next-worst records will each get three, the four teams that finished ninth and 10th in the Play-In Tournament will get two balls each, and one ball will go to each of the losers of the 7-8 matchup. The first 16 picks of the second round will be made in reverse order of the first round. The league hopes that this will “stop teams from losing intentionally to maximize their odds of landing a high lottery pick.” The new system will “sunset after the 2029 NBA Draft, at which point the governors will need to vote to either continue it or transition to a new system.” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will “now be able to fine a recalcitrant tanking team” up to $10M, “reduce a team’s lottery odds or force them to forfeit or transfer draft picks, and change draft positions or suspend team officials” (THE ATHLETIC, 5/28).
PROS AND CONS: ESPN.com’s Tim Bontemps writes the new draft lottery format “should blunt the most extreme cases of taking.” A 16-lottery team system -- one that also prevents protecting picks in the Nos. 12-15 range to guarantee keeping them -- “removes the vast majority of reasons teams use to justify losing down the stretch.” And with teams “looking to escape the bottom three instead of joining it, there will now be incentive for bad teams to win.” By including the loser of the 7-8 play-in game and both 9- and 10-seeds, “more teams have reason to keep pushing for the playoffs,” meaning “another win for competitiveness.” However, teams not being able to win back-to-back lotteries or pick inside the top five for three consecutive drafts “feels like an unnecessary step in a system that’s already well designed to deliver on the league’s vision.” Giving the bottom three teams reduced lottery odds also “takes a big step toward ensuring the worst teams actually finish with the worst records.” But those teams now could finish with the 10th, 11th and 12th picks in the draft if they fail to be selected in the lottery before those spots. Providing the new lottery system with an “out before it even takes effect sends the wrong message: More changes are probably coming” (ESPN.com, 5/28).
SOCIAL REAX:
- ESPN’s Shams Charania: “The NBA makes an unprecedented move in American pro sports league by punishing the very worst teams in the draft lottery and creating a new system to incentivize winning — after months of meetings and conversations among league, ownership and team stakeholders. A radical response from the NBA to radical behavior”
- Clutch Points’ Brett Siegel: “Under this new 3-2-1 lottery, be prepared to see a lot of teams in the middle of the pack give up late in the year. There is now no incentive for teams with the 6th-worst through those seeded 9th/10th to win anymore. Tanking has transferred from the worst teams to good teams.”
- CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn: “I’ve made it clear how much I dislike these changes. I’m glad they’re expected to be temporary.”
- Sports broadcaster Gabriel Morency: “Terrible concept . Bad teams have harder chance of getting better now . this fixes nothing”
