After multiple setbacks even before the season began, Adam Silver is eager to prevent another gambling scandal from casting a shadow over the NBA. The league responded by tightening rules around player availability to limit insider information. With that in place, the focus has now shifted to tanking, as concerns rise over teams deliberately resting players to safeguard draft position.

In the discussions between the board of governors, the case of Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks was highlighted.

Notably, the incident took place during the 2022-23 season. The Mavs were in play-in contention with two games to go, but also owed a top-10-protected first-round pick to the Knicks. Wanting to keep that leverage for themselves, the Mavericks rested Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic for their last two games.

The team lost both those games, including against the Bulls, where the Slovenian played only 12 minutes. They didn’t try to hide what they were doing, causing the NBA to hit them with a $750,000 fine for conduct detrimental to the league. It rippled down to other teams, too.

The Jazz were fined for resting Lauri Markannen, and even the 76ers shut down Tyrese Maxey last season to gain access to a lottery pick.

However, tanking isn’t a new concept. It’s been prevalent for most of the league’s history. But with the gambling probe, which suspects such information was wrongfully used to profit, the league wants to take a much stricter stance. The discussions are still in the early stages, but Adam Silver wants to avoid another fiasco.

Hence, his approach is to cut off the chain before anybody can pull it again.

What are the rules the NBA could implement?

In order to avoid teams intentionally tanking, the board of governors feels it’s best to target the very purpose behind it. The NBA draft rules could change vastly. One of the recommended changes is limiting protected picks to either the top 4 or top 14 and above to avoid the mid-draft crisis, as was the case with Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.

It gives the best chance for the worst teams from the previous years to remain in the top four, while discouraging tanking to stay in the top half. However, even the consistently low-ranking teams could face some trouble going forward.

Another change that could be coming relates to the regularity of placing in the lottery. Teams could be restricted from being in the top four picks for two consecutive years. That creates an incentive for teams to play their star players and try to win as many games if they had had a top-four pick in the previous year’s draft.

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The third and final change relates to the decision about the draft order. The league might shift towards deciding the lottery positions on March 1, a month before the end of the regular season. This would ensure competitive teams that may have slipped don’t intentionally rest players to worsen their record and improve their lottery odds, and only the true worst teams from a season get a fair shot in the draft.

None of these changes has been made concrete yet. However, with the events that have taken place, Adam Silver is determined to close any loopholes that exist. Do you think these changes would help? Let us know your views in the comments below.