Adam Silver’s crusade continues. At the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston last week, the commissioner warned that “substantial” changes would be made ahead of next season in an attempt to curb tanking.
Among the many ideas Silver floated were divorcing records from the draft order and potentially implementing a two-year window to determine lottery odds (something currently done in the WNBA). Silver admitted that pulling those levers “would be a major shock to the system” and seemed to hint that the league might not opt for the most extreme measures at first.
“Not to exactly forecast where we’re going, but I think I’m sort — I am an incrementalist,” Silver said. “I think we got to be a little bit careful, you know, about how huge a change we make at once. I’m not ruling anything out, but I am paying attention to that. And then there’s something significantly more than, I would say, just tinkering with the existing system.”
There’s no doubt that the well-hyped 2026 NBA Draft class has created what Silver called a “perfect storm” to incentivize tanking this season. Eight teams are in a heated race to the bottom — and it should be nine, but the Bucks are doing…[waives in the general direction of Milwaukee]….whatever it is the Bucks are doing. (We’ll dig deeper into that in a moment.) As of last week, the bottom 10 teams had gone on a combined 44-game losing streak. That stretch only ended due to the schedule makers pitting the Jazz and Wizards against each other.
But, as we’ve repeatedly said here at Tank Watch, that doesn’t mean that tanking is a problem that needs an immediate solution. This draft class is uniquely attractive. There weren’t eight teams hard tanking for Zaccharie Risacher. These things tend to ebb and flow. And while those eight teams have made their intentions known, the rest of the league is doing exactly what Silver keeps clamoring for: competing.
There are 18 teams at or above .500. Throw in the Hornets (barely under .500), Blazers (trying to improve their play-in position), aforementioned Bucks and Pelicans (a team with no incentive to tank because New Orleans doesn’t have a first-round pick in the upcoming draft) and that makes more than two thirds of the league that’s trying to win. That’s not enough? Cause it feels like enough.
Cracking down on tanking won’t just make it harder for the bad teams to level up, it will also impact the interest that fans have in those franchises. Hope sells. Hope has entertainment value. I’m not sure that mildly improving a mid-March game between two teams stuck in the mediocre middle does much of anything for anyone.
Note: Teams are rated based on who’s doing the best job of being bad in a given week. Teams that lose and find innovative ways to get around the league’s player participation policy will rise in the rankings. Teams that accidentally win a game they wish they would have lost will fall.
NBA Tank Rankings — March 10
1. Indiana Pacers (15-49)
Last week: 4
Just a professional job of dodging victories all season. The Pacers have dropped nine straight, the longest current losing streak in the league. Quality losses during that stretch include back-to-back Ls at Washington, as well as home defeats against the Mavericks and Grizzlies. Just two of those games were decided by single digits.
Only the Kings have a worse winning percentage than the Pacers. Indiana is on tank cruise control.
2. Washington Wizards (16-47)
Last week: 6
Owners of the second-longest current losing streak at eight in a row. That includes last week’s Tank Watch head-to-head clash with the Jazz, who went into that game having lost seven straight before the Wizards dealt Utah a devastating victory.
The Wizards recently activated Trae Young. Young played 19 minutes against the Jazz in his debut for Washington, then followed that up with 18 minutes against the Pelicans. Maybe he helps the tank, or at least doesn’t hurt it. Still, it’s surprising Washington didn’t shut him down until next season.
3. Dallas Mavericks (21-43)
Last week: 2
The Mavs have lost seven straight. Only the two teams ahead of them in this week’s Tank Watch have strung together more Ls.
Cooper Flagg returned after missing eight straight games with a foot injury. In three games last week he averaged 17 (extremely inefficient) points, 6.5 rebounds, 6 assists, 1.0 steal and 2.0. The Mavericks lost all three, including a too-close-for-comfort one-point defeat to the Magic in Orlando.
4. Sacramento Kings (15-50)
Last week: 8
Sign Russell Westbrook to a lifetime contract.
5. Utah Jazz (20-45)
Last week: 5
There’s a case to be made that the Jazz should be higher this week. Utah has lost eight of its last 10, with one of those victories coming against a downwardly motivated Wizards team in Washington. You can’t lose them all.
The best L of that bunch came in Philly last week when the Jazz were actually leading late and in danger of a bad road win before playing just a little bit worse down the stretch than the reeling Sixers. Not easy to do considering how bad the vibes have been in Philly of late.
6. Memphis Grizzlies (23-40)
Last week: 7
The Grizzlies are seven games out of the play-in in the Western Conference — and yet they’re still 2 ½ games up on the Mavericks. That really underscores how tough the Tank Wars have been this season. Even on some nights when you think you have a guaranteed L, you’re still made to work for it like the Grizzlies were forced to do against the Clippers last week. Memphis was up 19 in that game before ultimately losing at home by three.
7. Chicago Bulls (26-38)
Last week: 1
The Bulls went from not winning a game in February — the first time in franchise history that they went an entire month without a victory — to winning two of their first three games in March. That included a last-second win in Phoenix that required them to do that thing where you throw the ball real high in the air and wait for the buzzer to sound.
Tank Watch generally frowns on heads-up plays but that one had style.
8. Brooklyn Nets (17-47)
Last week: 3
The Nets have won back-to-back games. First they had their 10-game losing streak snapped when they rallied from down 23 to beat the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons in Detroit. (That probably says more about the struggling Pistons than it does about the Nets.) Then Brooklyn followed up by beating the Grizzlies at home on Monday night without Michael Porter Jr.
Rough stretch. Do better worse, Brooklyn.
Dishonorable Mention: Milwaukee Bucks (27-36)
The Bucks decided not to tank. They decided not to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo at the deadline. And they decided to bring Giannis back from a calf injury in the hopes of sneaking into the play-in.
How’s all that going? Not great [Bob]. The Bucks got smoked at home by the Hawks last week in a defeat that felt like the death of their postseason aspirations. They’re four games behind the Hornets for the final play-in spot with 19 games remaining. If Milwaukee misses the playoffs and fails to drop further in the standings, the Bucks’ random winning streak in February will look like a blunder.
What was all that for, anyway? Sure, even if the Bucks chose to tank, they were only going to be able to fall so far. But the odds at landing a top-four pick are much better if you finish, say, seventh (31.9%) than if you end up 10th (13.9%). Almost every decision the Bucks have made for nearly a year now has felt like an own goal.
Tank Wars Game(s) of the Week
Pacers at Kings, Tuesday, 10 p.m. ET
Two of the worst to do it this season. Should be a bad one.
Mavericks at Grizzlies, Thursday, 8 p.m. ET
If Memphis has any shot of dropping below Dallas, this is one the Grizzlies gotta (not) have.
Tankathon Spin of the Week
Tankathon
Nico Harrison trades Luka, then the Mavs end up with back-to-back first overall picks in two loaded drafts. What a mea culpa that would be by the Basketball Gods.
