Blazers vs Thunder game tonight is a disgrace to the league (tanking)

[Patches Perry]

Thunder have won 2 games in a row.

[CptCrunch]

I just read that the Thunders went on a 26-4 run to beat the Blazers.

I think Blazers should lose a draft pick for this tank job if the coaches instructed their D-Leaguers to tank the game.

[RoyceDa59]

Who cares there are so many better games to watch tonight.

[Patches Perry]

Thunder winning their last 2 games is going to put them right outside the bottom 3 again. Luckily, they can't really worsen their odds from here. They'll very likely be the 4th worst team.

[BNM]

two teams that have shown they can't do anything but waste draft talent plan to waste more draft talent

Oh please, know more than 15 minutes of NBA history before making such ridiculous statements.

Prior to this season, POR had made the playoffs 8 straight seasons - which was the longest active streak in the entire league.

Since the lottery was started, POR has made the playoffs 29 of 36 seasons (and 32 of the last 39). They went the first 18 seasons of the lottery era without having a lottery pick (part of a 21-year playoff streak that started three years before the lottery).

It's not like POR has a history of tanking. They have also done fine drafting outside of the lottery (name another team that made the playoffs 18-straight years without a lottery pick).

The highest draft pick POR has had in the last 14 years was Damian Lillard with the 6th pick (and that wasn't even their pick, it was acquired via trade from the Nets). Their own highest pick in the last 14 years was CJ McCollum at 10th. Were they "wasted draft talent"?

[Plossum]

What do you expect them to do? There’s no incentive for either team to win this game and every incentive for them to lose (draft positioning). It sucks but it’s also pretty insignificant. Plenty of other worthwhile games to watch.

[GrindCityHustle]

As a fan watching on TV I love seeing lesser-known players get PT. I actually like Kris Dunn alot. He is going to make it back in the league similar to John Starks.

If I had paid for a huge priced courtside ticket I would be upset no doubt. People pay that to watch stars.

[F N 11]

Tanking or giving the people who ain’t play all year a chance?

[jigga_man]

Seriously though, this isn't a new thing. I lived through this game:

and on national tv:

[John Murdoch]

Seriously though, this isn't a new thing. I lived through this game:

[Big J]

No offense to Thunder fans, this is not their fault, but this wouldn’t be happening if the league didn’t let them leave Seattle.

[Big nick]

only thing wrong with this game is okc won. Small market teams have to get high draft picks unlike what gs did recruit drant from okc to buy a championship. Don't hate when teams tank blame the way the system us set up.

[Sactowndog]

OKC won a meaningless game on a Muscala 3 last year at the end of the season that cost them ping pong balls. Anyone remember that game? No. But I remember that they picked 6th.

They had great odds and still picked 6th. I would bet even money that neither Portland or OKC drafts in the top 4 this year. Portland has made a mockery of the new rules by going 2-20 against the worst teams in the league since the all star break and quite frankly impacted the play-offs since SA probably doesn’t make they play-in if they don’t play Portland 3 times after the all star break.

If you want to fix the **** you have a committee pick the non-play-off draft order and the problem is solved.

[JRoy]

two teams that have shown they can't do anything but waste draft talent plan to waste more draft talent

Tell me you’re not a CHA fan talking about other teams’ drafting

[Drakeem]

The league is arguably the deepest its even been as far as talent on different teams and we're really going to sit here and complain about the 2-3 teams that are complete garbage.

[Pointgod]

There is a play-in tournament for the 10th seed and smoothened draft odds. What more should the league do?

Starting penalizing teams draft picks for blatant tanking.

if you get a top 4 pick, the next year the highest you can pick is 5.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using RealGM mobile app

Naw takeaway their picks. Silver needs to come down hard, it’s the only thing these teams would understand.

[The Moose]

OKC got royally screwed in the lottery last year after doing something similar. I think they had something like an 85% of getting at least 1 top 5 pick, and a decent chance at getting 2 top 5 picks, and they ended up with the 6th.

The team that got crewed in the lottery was the Magic.

Not really, Orlando getting screwed would’ve been like if they lost the Bulls pick if it jumped into the top 4 and then their own pick fell to 6
Was definitely an unlucky night for them but not as bad as the Thunder

[Upperclass]

crazy thing is.. if the bottom 4-5 teams just played it straight.. they would all still be the 4-5 worst teams in the league

[Scalabrine]

OKC won a meaningless game on a Muscala 3 last year at the end of the season that cost them ping pong balls. Anyone remember that game? No. But I remember that they picked 6th.

https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/08/13/thunders-mike-muscala-hits-game-winner-costs-thunder-their-first-round-pick/

A great story that actually got the Sixers a first rounder in the process.

[AbeVigodaLive]

The fans who paid money for it...?

To be fair, OKC has been playing this shell game for quite awhile now, so anybody who bought a ticket recently to this silliness deserves their fate.