The NBA’s competitive balance is under a microscope again. Losing on purpose has always been part of the league’s darker strategic playbook, but recent developments have pushed the issue back into the spotlight.

Pressure around tanking intensified after the NBA penalized two franchises in February. The Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers were both fined for player management decisions that the league believed prioritized draft position over winning games.

Now, commissioner Adam Silver has made it clear that stronger action is coming. Speaking at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Silver confirmed that the league is preparing significant structural changes aimed at discouraging teams from manipulating their draft odds.

“We are going to make substantial changes for next year,” Silver was quoted as saying by The Athletic reporter Mike Vorkunov. “I think where I’m on the fence — on one extreme, you could completely divorce the draft from teams’ records. Just argue we could take all 30 teams regardless of the outcome, that would completely disincentivize tanking. You could win the finals, you know, and get the first pick. But then there’s gradations of that.”

Silver’s comments signal what many teams view as a potential “major shock.” If draft odds were no longer tied directly to record, the traditional incentive to lose games late in the season could disappear overnight.

Concerns about tanking have existed in the NBA for years. However, league officials believe the issue became more visible during the final stretch of the current season. At one point, the league’s ten worst teams collectively carried a 44-game losing streak. That stretch highlighted just how competitive priorities can shift once playoff hopes disappear.

Several struggling franchises have drawn attention during that run. The Utah Jazz, Sacramento Kings, Brooklyn Nets, and Indiana Pacers all endured prolonged losing streaks while sitting near the bottom of the standings.

Although none of those results have been formally linked to deliberate tanking, league executives became concerned that some teams were prioritizing draft position over immediate success.

Because of that concern, the NBA took disciplinary action. The Jazz were fined $500,000 after the league determined the franchise violated player participation rules. Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. were held out of games against the Orlando Magic on February 7 and the Miami Heat on February 9.

Indiana also faced penalties shortly afterward. The Pacers paid a $100,000 fine after violating the player participation policy during their 131-122 loss to Utah. Those punishments were intended to reinforce the league’s stance that competitive integrity must remain protected.

Adam Silver Addresses ‘Perfect Storm’ Causing NBA Draft Manipulation

Still, Silver acknowledged that this season presents a unique set of circumstances that make tanking especially tempting.

“It’s a little bit of a perfect storm this season, that you have a perceived, very deep draft,” Silver added. “Again, I say perceived because scouts’ predictions are wrong. But there’s a sense that you have four players in particular, maybe five, who are true game changers. You add to that a forecast that the next two years drafts won’t be as good, and you create enormous incentive for teams to tank, and I add on top of that, and this also goes to this basketball’s life notion, there’s been sort of destigmatization around certain behaviors.”

That perception of a stacked 2026 draft class is a major reason teams are under scrutiny. Prospects such as AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cameron Boozer are widely viewed as potential franchise-altering players.

Because of that talent pool, the value of landing a top draft pick has increased dramatically.

League leadership has already begun discussing possible solutions. During meetings between Silver, league executives, owners, and player representatives, the NBA developed a proposed seven-point action plan to address the issue.

Some of those proposals include extending the draft lottery to include play-in teams, flattening lottery odds across the standings, and potentially calculating draft odds using two-year records instead of a single season.

Each idea aims to remove the incentive for teams to lose games late in the year. Whether those changes ultimately reshape the draft remains to be seen. However, Silver’s message from the Sloan Conference made one thing clear. The league office believes the current system encourages behavior that threatens competitive integrity, and significant changes may be coming soon.