NBA will change rules to combat 'losing behaviour'

To deter teams from tanking, or losing on purpose, for better lottery odds in the draft, the National Basketball Association (NBA) is considering options such as not allowing a franchise to make a top-four pick in consecutive years or after consecutive bottom-three finishes, reported ESPN and The Athletic.

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Other options include flattening the spread of the odds for all lottery teams and freezing those odds at the trade deadline or another date in-season. In the current draft system, lower-ranked teams in the standings have the best chances of landing the top prospects.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver told all 30 general managers that the league will make rule changes to combat the practice starting from the 2026-27 season, multiple media outlets reported on Feb 19.

The Utah Jazz were fined US$500,000 (S$635,000) while the Indiana Pacers received a US$100,000 penalty earlier in February for conduct detrimental to the league, regarding its player-participation policy.

Utah, in particular, benched their two best players, Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr, for the entire fourth quarter of back-to-back games against Orlando Magic and Miami Heat.