The NBA isn’t just staging a spectacle at the Intuit Dome this weekend – it’s staging a crackdown. While the league’s brightest stars prepare to headline All-Star festivities in Inglewood, Commissioner Adam Silver and top executives are quietly escalating a full-scale effort to combat tanking. Behind closed doors, what was once a cyclical complaint has evolved into an urgent league-wide initiative, with intensified meetings, sharper scrutiny, and the threat of significant penalties looming over front offices.

League insider and senior ESPN reporter Shams Charania provided an update on the situation earlier today.

“It’s an increased topic, an increased conversation among the stakeholders and the NBA. From owners to league office executives to team executives and the player side of the NBPA in finding ways to combat tanking, it started all the way in November -December in the wake of the gambling scandals that happened in the NBA,” Charania said while on NBA Today.

The issue of tanking is not a novel problem for Silver and his team. To improve lottery odds and land better draft picks, mid-level or ‘ambitious’ teams in the league are more often than not willing to sacrifice their respective campaigns. There are multiple methods to ‘tank’ a perfectly functional team.

Tanking is far from a new phenomenon in the NBA, but few examples have been as brazen and influential as the Philadelphia 76ers’ infamous “The Process” under former general manager Sam Hinkie from 2013 to 2016. Hinkie deliberately constructed rosters designed to lose, trading away veterans, prioritizing injured or developmental prospects in the draft, and amassing future assets to maximize lottery odds.

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Over three seasons, the 76ers posted dismal records of 19-63, 18-64, and 10-72, enduring the league’s longest losing streak (28 games) while securing high picks that landed foundational talents like Joel Embiid (No. 3 in 2014), Ben Simmons (No. 1 in 2016), and others.

This overt strategy drew widespread criticism for damaging the league’s product, fan engagement, and competitive integrity, ultimately contributing to Hinkie’s resignation in 2016 amid pressure from ownership and the league office.

In direct response to such extreme rebuilding efforts, including the spotlight on Philadelphia, the NBA acted decisively: In 2017, the Board of Governors approved draft lottery reform (implemented starting with the 2019 draft), flattening the odds so the three worst teams each received only a 14% chance at the No. 1 pick (down from the previous 25% for the single worst team), expanding the lottery field to four teams, and smoothing probabilities to reduce the incentive for prolonged, aggressive losing.

Despite these reforms, tanking hasn’t disappeared – it’s simply evolved into more sophisticated forms. One method includes trading veteran/experienced players for future picks. This offers potential trade leverage and salary cap flexibility. Another method includes ‘managing minutes’ for star players as we approach the All-Star break, which is exactly where we’re at currently. We also see teams line up with a majority of young players to ensure they underperform against quality NBA opposition.

The logic behind these sneaky tactics is simple: one superstar can change the trajectory of your franchise, and if ‘tanking’ is deemed necessary, then so be it.

Recognizing that the problem persists, league officials, team executives, and player reps are aware of these practices and are working together to end them as soon as possible.

“The three ideas that came into fruition earlier in the year that the league office came up with were limiting pick protections as a solution, possibly not allowing teams to draft in the Top four in consecutive years and maybe another idea being locking lottery positions after March 1,” Charania added.

NBA Sounds Warning Bell with Latest Sanctions on Jazz, Pacers

All that noise around ‘tanking’ in recent weeks is down to some questionable tactical and roster moves by two teams – the Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers. The former have been under the league’s microscope for back-to-back seasons for what many fans are calling ‘blatant tanking tactics’,

Last season, they were criticized for inventive “injury” designations and intentionally sitting key players like Lauri Markkanen. They’ve doubled down on that behavior in recent games and were issued a hefty $500k fine by Mr. Silver earlier today.

Here’s what Jazz owner Ryan Smith said about that on social media: “agree to disagree … Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense …” When ESPN analyst Bobby Marks compared tanking fines to luxury taxes, suggesting owners would pay them easily, Smith replied: “Hey Bobby… maybe sit this one out. You have no clue what paying this is like and your amnesia this week is comical.”

The Pacers, meanwhile, were fined $100k for resting key players like Pascal Siakam in a recent game. Indiana was found to have broken the NBA’s Player Participation Policy for its Feb 3 game against the Jazz. The investigation – including an independent medical review – concluded that Siakam and two other starters, who were all sidelined, would have been eligible to play under the league’s medical criteria.

The discussions around potential solutions continue to intensify. “My understanding is that there have been even more meetings. There was a competition committee called about a couple of weeks ago with owners, with team executives, with players, that all discussed even more ideas,” Charania concluded.

These fines make it clear that Adam Silver and his executives are standing up to tanking. They believe that other mid-table teams will look to replicate this behavior to land better draft picks in the future. The league does not want this to become a pattern and is keen to eliminate this practice, sooner rather than later.