NBA Votes for New Anti-Tanking Rules: What You Need to Know

Following an announcement several weeks ago, the NBA officially confirmed on Thursday its intention to combat "tanking" – the practice of deliberately losing games to secure better draft positions. The Board of Governors, the league's highest authority comprising a representative owner from each of the 30 clubs, approved with near-unanimous support a significant overhaul of the draft lottery rules, set to take effect in the 2026/27 season.

The primary change introduces a new system, dubbed the "3-2-1" lottery, designed to penalize the three worst teams in the regular season by reducing their odds of securing the first overall pick. Conversely, teams that miss the playoffs but remain competitive will see their chances improved.

According to ESPN journalist Shams Charania, the new legislation expands the lottery from 14 to 16 teams and establishes a "relegation zone" for the bottom three finishers, who will see their chances of landing the coveted first pick diminish. The objective is clear: to incentivize competitiveness and winning.

The new draft lottery format will now include 16 clubs. The distribution of lottery balls, which determines the draft order for these 16 teams, will follow a "3-2-1" model: seven teams will receive three balls in the tumbler, another seven will have two balls, and the two teams defeated in the Play-In games – between the 7th and 8th seeds of each conference – will receive only one ball.

Teams finishing with the three worst records in the league will fall into the aforementioned "relegation zone." While teams that did not qualify for the playoffs or Play-In, but avoided the bottom three spots, will receive three balls (an 8.1% chance of securing the first pick). Clubs in the relegation zone will only have two balls, corresponding to a 5.4% probability.

To mitigate the penalty, the league has stipulated that "relegated" teams in the draft cannot pick lower than 12th overall. The remaining lottery-eligible teams could fall as far as the 16th pick.

Radical restrictions on draft picks have also been introduced. No club will be able to hold the first overall pick in consecutive drafts, nor can they pick within the top 5 for three straight years.

For example, under these rules, the Spurs would not have been able to select Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper in successive years. Similarly, the Cavaliers, champions in 2016/17, would not have been able to draft Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins, which would have made their trade for Kevin Love impossible.

Additionally, clubs will no longer be able to protect their draft picks in the 12th to 15th position range.

The new anti-tanking rules will be implemented starting from the 2026/27 season and will remain in effect, at minimum, until the 2029 draft. After this period, a sunset clause will require a new vote by the Board of Governors to decide whether the system continues or requires further modifications.