The NBA has officially taken action against tanking, with the Board of Governors passing a significant set of new anti-tanking rules.
The 2025-26 NBA season saw multiple teams attempting to improve their lottery odds, and both the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers received fines during the season.
Commissioner Adam Silver and the league have now pushed through landmark changes designed to eliminate deliberate losing, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Among the headline changes is an expansion of the lottery from 14 to 16 teams, alongside flattened odds and a new relegation zone with penalties for the bottom three teams.
The new structure has been dubbed the “3-2-1 lottery,” a name that reflects the number of lottery balls assigned to each tier of non-playoff teams.
Teams finishing with a bottom-three record in what is described as the relegation area will receive only two lottery balls, reducing their chances of securing a top pick.
Teams that miss out on both the playoffs and the play-in tournament, finishing in spots four through ten, will receive three lottery balls under the new system.
Charania reported that “no one will be able to win the No. 1 in consecutive years or be able to win three consecutive top-five picks” under the incoming framework.
The Washington Wizards landed the top pick in the most recent draft, having been one of three teams carrying the highest lottery odds of 14%.
The new anti-tanking measures are set to begin with the 2027 NBA Draft and will remain in place through 2029, marking a significant shift in how the league approaches its draft lottery system.
