NBA Informs GMs League Planning Rule Overhaul To Combat Tanking

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver informed all 30 general managers Thursday that the league intends to implement anti-tanking rule changes before next season, according to ESPN sources. Silver was described as "forceful" in conveying his determination to resolve the issue.

The announcement came during a GM meeting where Silver, league executives and team decision-makers aligned on protecting competitive integrity. Senior adviser Mike Krzyzewski urged swift, decisive action and called on all parties to prepare for rule changes in the coming months.

Multiple concepts under active discussion include restricting first-round pick protections to top-four or top-14-plus selections, freezing lottery odds at the trade deadline, extending the lottery to include all play-in teams, basing lottery odds on two-year records, and flattening odds across all lottery teams. Additional proposals would bar teams from selecting in the top four in back-to-back years, after consecutive bottom-three finishes, or the season following a conference finals appearance.

The league's dialogue with owners, the competition committee and general managers has intensified since December, when initial concepts were first introduced at an ownership meeting.

Silver said during All-Star Weekend that tanking had grown "worse this year than we've seen in recent memory."

Last week, the NBA fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for sitting healthy players.

Earlier Thursday, Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia publicly condemned tanking on X, calling it "much worse than any prop bet scandal."