NBA's board of governors passes anti-tanking changes to draft lottery process: reports

The NBA approved sweeping changes to the draft lottery on Thursday that will strip the teams with the worst records from receiving the best odds of winning the No. 1 pick, something the league hopes will prevent tanking.

A vote by the league's Board of Governors made the plan official for the next three seasons. The "3-2-1 Lottery" proposal expands the event to 16 teams, flattens odds of winning the No. 1 pick and will try to deter teams from tanking by lowering lottery chances for teams that have the worst records.

They can still win the lottery, but they'll have to buck odds to do so. The three worst teams will have 5.4 per cent odds of winning, while teams that finish with the fourth- through 10th-worst records will all have 8.1 per cent chances of winning.

"Since October, the league office has met with key stakeholders to discuss current competitive incentives and solicit ideas aimed at discouraging tanking," the league said Thursday in announcing the move. "That process led to the creation of the 3-2-1 Lottery."

ESPN reported the vote was 29-1, with Memphis casting the lone dissenting ballot.

The vote on Thursday fulfilled a promise from Commissioner Adam Silver, who vowed that the league — which has changed the lottery system about a half-dozen times in the last 40 or so years — would strongly address the tanking issue before next season.

Starting with next year's lottery, the 16 participating teams will all get somewhere between one and three lottery balls — the 3-2-1 part — awarded in this manner:

Tanking was a huge — and from the league standpoint, regrettable — talking point this season. The Utah Jazz were fined $500,000 US "for conduct detrimental to the league" over the way two top players were held out of