The NBA’s latest effort to curb tanking is drawing pushback around the league, with coaches, executives and players questioning whether the current penalties are enough to stop teams from leaning into losing, according to ESPN’s Anthony Slater. The issue has become more visible this season as several rebuilding clubs have stretched rotations, leaned on 10-day signings and, at times, played lineups that look built more for lottery odds than winning.
The league has already shown it is willing to act. Utah was fined $500,000 in February after the NBA said it violated the player participation policy, but the warning has not ended the behavior, and league sources told ESPN that teams continue to test the line.
Commissioner Adam Silver said the league sees a problem but also admits the challenge is defining where a rebuild ends and tanking begins. “There is an aspect of team-building that is called a genuine rebuild — a rebuild with integrity,” Silver said. “The problem we’re having these days is it’s become almost impossible to distinguish between the tank and rebuild.”
Silver added that the league intends to act. “It’s one that we take very seriously, and we are going to fix it. Full stop,” he said.
Around the league, that warning has not exactly been welcomed. Warriors coach Steve Kerr was blunt: “I hate it,” he said of tanking, while Draymond Green argued the penalties should be aimed more directly at teams. “Just fine the hell outta people,” Green said. “They love taking money from players. Keep fining teams.”
The tactics have become more aggressive. ESPN reported that some teams are using “analytically bad lineups,” resting players early and even drawing up plays for poor shots, all in an effort to maximize draft position. One Western Conference general manager called the trend a copycat league, saying, “All the models and ideas, there are always further iterations. That’s what happens when it works.”
The practical effect has been obvious on the court. The average margin of victory this season has climbed to 13.1 points, the largest in league history, and a record 89 games have already been decided by 30 or more points.
That leaves the NBA with a familiar problem and a harder fix. The league wants competition to matter, but as long as the draft remains the clearest path for struggling teams to accelerate a rebuild, the incentive to lose is not going away quietly.
