Prevent tanking: force teams to trade their own draft picks

[FlyingArrow]

An idea that prevents tanking. If, on December 15, a team still owns its own draft pick for the upcoming draft, then that draft pick automatically drops 10 slots in the draft. This incentivizes teams to trade away their own draft picks, which takes away their incentive to tank. Teams that are worse will be able to command more in trade for their draft picks, since the draft pick would be expected to be a high pick. In fact, the two worst teams could simply swap picks with each other, and then both teams would get high draft picks but both would be incentivized to win. Bad teams are still able to improve.

I haven't seen anything else that so cleanly eliminates the tanking problem. The cutoff date and the number of slots that a team would drop would be negotiable, of course, as long as they served to eliminate tanking.

This is not my own idea - someone else proposed this idea in the middle of a thread somewhere, but it needs more publicity.

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edit: I made a couple of edits for clarity. Teams aren't forced to trade players they just drafted. They have to trade the draft pick for the upcoming draft.

[MrBigShot]

This is legitimately one of the absolute worst ideas I have ever heard.

[76ciology]

Team that gets the worst record forfeits their pick.

You then get two ends competing. One end for championship the other end is competing to not forfeit their pick.

To get balance, you need to sacrifice.

[jlokine]

said it before, no one ever comments on it...

one and done tournament with the bottom 14 teams. 9 seed gets bye, 10-12 gets home court. winner gets 1st pick, runner up gets 2nd, 3rd place team gets 3rd, loser of 3rd place game gets 4th. slot the rest either by where they got eliminated in the tournament or by win-loss record. revenue for the league, every position means something.. alternate to that in-season tournament they want so badly, except even LA king fans have a reason to cheer at the end of the year.

[TimberKat]

An idea that prevents tanking. If a team still owns its own draft pick for that year on December 15, then that draft pick automatically drops 10 slots in the draft. This incentivizes teams to trade away their own draft picks, which takes away their incentive to tank. Teams that are worse will be able to command more in trade for their draft picks, since the draft pick would be expected to be a high pick. In fact, the two worst teams could simply swap picks with each other, and then both teams would get high draft picks but both would be incentivized to win. Bad teams are still able to improve.

I haven't seen anything else that so cleanly eliminates the tanking problem. The cutoff date and the number of slots that a team would drop would be negotiable, of course, as long as they served to eliminate tanking.

This is not my own idea - someone else proposed this idea in the middle of a thread somewhere, but it needs more publicity.

That is an interesting idea. It could work but are teams incentivize to injure the pick's team?

I am thinking as long as teams are not incentivized to tie for worst record maybe good enough. As an example. The 3rd and 4th worst team has the best odds to win the lotto; 5th, 6th worst team the next tier; worst and 2nd worst third tier; Keep the same 4 lottery system, the worst team will get the fifth pick in the worst case.

[FlyingArrow]

This is legitimately one of the absolute worst ideas I have ever heard.

Can you elaborate? I don't see the downside.

[BoatsNZones]

Under the current format, the bottom 3 teams only have a 14% chance each at the #1 pick, meaning that while they share the best odds, it is more likely to land on one of the 11 other squads than any of those 3 teams.

It's really all you can ask for. In the NFL and MLB the worst record gets the #1 pick, period. Be thankful we have a well distributed lottery in the NBA's format (specifically the new one). I see zero need for further tinkering or a complete overhaul. OP's idea in particular is completely asinine.

[Lalouie]

open the lottery to every team

[Gusto1903]

This is so stupid, wow

[FreeThrowLine]

I'm so confused, what on earth have you accomplished by doing this?

You're asking teams to trade their pick by the 2nd or 3rd month of the season or they drop 10 slots in the next draft?

How have you stopped tanking? That draft pick assuming we're only talking about the number 1 pick since you didn't specify, still has a lot of value as most number 1 picks do not even halfway into their first season, so the team hasn't been disincentivized to tank as they're going to get back some value and you already provided a way teams could get around it by the 1st and 2nd teams swapping picks, which they could have already agreed to do prior to the draft knowing what was going to come.

You have only hurt the fanbase and the player, not the team trying to tank

I either haven't understood the proposal or this some kind of idea put forward by someone from generation TikTok

[Statlanta]

Team that gets the worst record forfeits their pick.

You then get two ends competing. One end for championship the other end is competing to not forfeit their pick.

To get balance, you need to sacrifice.

I like this idea, but I still feel it leads to end of the season shenaingans somehow. Like the top teams resting and certain teams with a top heavy schedule at the end of the season getting easy wins vs. a bad team with a schedule against teams fighting for the play-in spot.

[Mr Puddles]

As some of you know, I bowl with Adam Silver over the weekends and he told me that in order the prevent tanking the NBA has a new plan for which they're bringing the world's best scientists together. Like Neil Degrass Tyson, Bill Nye, Doc Brown, all of the top scientific minds in the world, and have them engineer a hybrid human-animal. Half man, half horse, half wolf. They'll call him Wolfhorse.

At the end of the season, each team selects a player who will wrestle Wolfhorse in greek roman wrestling match - a sport which does not require lubricating oils, but I Silver and I like to bring them anyway. Whoever lasts longest, gets the number one pick. Low key, I'm pretty sure that's why the Jazz acquired Johnny Juzang, dude has a mean rear naked choke.

[The Box Office]

Forcing anything is a hell no.

[Collymore]

End of the year standings decide who is first to pick which teams position you get the pick based on (excluding your own). Houston would have been first to pick this year and if they choose Sacramento and Sacramento have the worst record, pick no 1 is theirs. No need for lottery. Would additionally provide some nice drama and potential rivalry when teams feel they get "disrespected" by a pick.

Problem solved.

[BK_2020]

The worst team gets the top pick but the best team makes the selection for them. Tanking ends.


Sent from my iPad using RealGM mobile app

[j_n]

The whole concept of rewarding the bad teams is not bad, you don't fix tanking by putting teams in hell with a terrible team and no way to improve.

The simplest solution that will reduce tanking and still give bad teams a chance to improve is to:

1. let everyone participate except the conference finalists, to give better chance to teams stuck in the first/second round exit stage.

2. Base the odds on the record from the Last 4 years with the recent years counting more, so you don't motivate teams that just made the finals like the warriors but have a bunch of injuries so they decide to punt the year.

[ElectricMayhem]

Forcing other teams to own your draft picks: I had the same thought but went a different route with my implementation 11 years ago with my idea of draft stakes. Basically, you draft a team to own their draft stakes for the upcoming year. Written about in detail here:
https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1103599

[jasonxxx102]

Off-season is almost over Off-season is almost over Off-season is almost over Off-season is almost over

[wegotthabeet]

said it before, no one ever comments on it...

one and done tournament with the bottom 14 teams. 9 seed gets bye, 10-12 gets home court. winner gets 1st pick, runner up gets 2nd, 3rd place team gets 3rd, loser of 3rd place game gets 4th. slot the rest either by where they got eliminated in the tournament or by win-loss record. revenue for the league, every position means something.. alternate to that in-season tournament they want so badly, except even LA king fans have a reason to cheer at the end of the year.

this has been suggested a million times. no one can answer/explain why players on lottery teams would be motivated to land their potential replacement via a high pick. you think Markelle Fultz and Jalen Suggs are going all out so that Orlando can draft Scoot Henderson? it makes no sense.

[Gusto1903]

said it before, no one ever comments on it...

one and done tournament with the bottom 14 teams. 9 seed gets bye, 10-12 gets home court. winner gets 1st pick, runner up gets 2nd, 3rd place team gets 3rd, loser of 3rd place game gets 4th. slot the rest either by where they got eliminated in the tournament or by win-loss record. revenue for the league, every position means something.. alternate to that in-season tournament they want so badly, except even LA king fans have a reason to cheer at the end of the year.

this has been suggested a million times. no one can answer/explain why players on lottery teams would be motivated to land their potential replacement via a high pick. you think Markelle Fultz and Jalen Suggs are going all out so that Orlando can draft Scoot Henderson? it makes no sense.

This, but also, lets say, even if they were.

The bad teams still would stay bad for ever, since they wouldnt win anything in these tournaments, because, you know, theyre turrble, which would leave them with a pick outside the top 10 and crabbing in the lottery for ever, except for, when they hit the jackpot with the likes of a giannis type player.
BUT, this would also mean, no hype to the franchise by the hyped Top5 Players in the draft, no money, no market, for a long time.