The NBA is considering severe penalties for teams found deliberately manipulating lineups, player availability and in-game rotations to lose, two league sources told The Athletic. The measures would give Adam Silver broad authority to punish confirmed tanking.
Under the proposed rules, Silver's office could strip a team of its draft pick entirely, relocate it to the end of the lottery or first round, and impose fines reaching into the millions of dollars.
"Without stricter penalties, you could still have crazy behavior," one league source said. "You have to have something in place that is so drastic, a team would actually think twice about tanking. And if a team tries it and gets caught, then the other teams need to see the penalties and realize it isn't worth it to try."
Silver addressed the issue directly at Wednesday's Board of Governors news conference.
"It has business implications. It has basketball implications. It has integrity implications for the league. So it's one that we take very seriously, and we are going to fix it. Full stop. And I want to say that directly to our fans," Silver said.
The penalty proposals accompany previously reported lottery reform measures that would expand the draft lottery from 14 to either 18 or 22 teams. Those changes were introduced at this week's Board of Governors meeting and are expected to be voted on in May.
"Exactly what that change is, we're continuing to work on," Silver said. "I think there's also unanimous agreement that we need to make this change in advance of the draft and free agency this year."
The NBA fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 earlier this season for "conduct detrimental to the league" after they sat Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the fourth quarter of a competitive game. The Indiana Pacers were fined $100,000 for violating the Player Participation Policy.
Under the proposed rules, Silver's office could strip a team of its draft pick entirely, relocate it to the end of the lottery or first round, and impose fines reaching into the millions of dollars.
"Without stricter penalties, you could still have crazy behavior," one league source said. "You have to have something in place that is so drastic, a team would actually think twice about tanking. And if a team tries it and gets caught, then the other teams need to see the penalties and realize it isn't worth it to try."
Silver addressed the issue directly at Wednesday's Board of Governors news conference.
"It has business implications. It has basketball implications. It has integrity implications for the league. So it's one that we take very seriously, and we are going to fix it. Full stop. And I want to say that directly to our fans," Silver said.
The penalty proposals accompany previously reported lottery reform measures that would expand the draft lottery from 14 to either 18 or 22 teams. Those changes were introduced at this week's Board of Governors meeting and are expected to be voted on in May.
"Exactly what that change is, we're continuing to work on," Silver said. "I think there's also unanimous agreement that we need to make this change in advance of the draft and free agency this year."
The NBA fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 earlier this season for "conduct detrimental to the league" after they sat Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the fourth quarter of a competitive game. The Indiana Pacers were fined $100,000 for violating the Player Participation Policy.
