Tanking: Smart Strategy Or Bad Basketball?

We weigh the logic and the fallout of NBA tanking, from the Sixers’ Process to Wembanyama’s Spurs, and ask whether the system should reward losing. We offer concrete fixes to protect small markets while restoring trust and competitive integrity.

• what tanking is and how teams do it
• why small markets see tanking as a lifeline
• generational talents that shift franchise math
• costs to fans, players, and playoff races
• when losing becomes culture and habit
• what has worked and failed historically
• league tweaks like flattened odds and play-in
• proposals to dock lottery odds for clear tanking
• alternative draft systems and their trade-offs
• open question to listeners on ethics and value

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Transcript

Framing The Tanking Debate

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What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Trey, and as usual. I hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Now, today, I got an interesting topic to talk about because it's kind of polarizing, really, really, when you think about it. Tanking in the NBA. Is it a smart long-term rebuild strategy, or is it just bad business for the league, the players, and the fans? Like, we got to think about teams like the 76ers, the Spurs, the Thunder. Yeah, these teams have been a little successful. Now, the 76ers, you know, trust the process, right? They didn't win a championship. They got a little close. Now, yes, this is not horseshoes. Yes, we're not dealing with grenades. But they got close, alright? So, you know, Joel MB, Ben Simmons, I get it. The Thunder, defending champs, right? They tanked. It's called Spade Spade. For quite a few seasons, actually. And again, notice I led with defending champions. We got to talk about the Spurs. Now they got Victor Winminyama. We understand it. Buddy about 7.5, 7-6, close to 7.12. You know? I hear it. Also, yes, I know that's eight foot. It's supposed to be a joke. But the point is, there are some talents that make sense for why teams would want to tank. Think about Cooper Flagg. Think about this upcoming draft class with A.J. DeBonsa, Darren Peterson, Cameron Boozer. You kind of want these players on your team. Hell, I kind of want the players on my team, and I'm a Lakers fan. Like, I get the idea of tanking. So we got to start it off with what is tanking? Because there's been a lot of controversy around it, both good and bad. Well, a lot of gripes about it, as well as a few good things to note, too. But I've heard a lot of negatives about it. So let's let's start it off with what is tanking? Tanking is when a team intentionally puts itself in a position to lose games. Not that you're just naturally losing games. No, no, no, no, no, no. You're trying to lose. Like you usually rest your veterans, trading productive players for picks, prioritizing player development over winning. Sometimes that can be beneficial if you have a long-term goal. Like if you're trying to get your young guns up, okay, I get why you would play them as opposed to the veterans. I get it. Because you do got to think about your future. Okay? So there is a thin line between playing the right way and tanking at times. But you can't try to lose. You still got to try to win. And that's what tanking is. When you're trying to lose to have a better draft pick for the upcoming season. Again, the 76ers, trust the process. The Cavs, when they were trying to land brawn. Like there are certain talents that we see coming up where I'm like, all right, it makes sense why you would want to tank for that player. Some of these players are elite and they can change a franchise overnight. So from a pure strategy standpoint, tanking can work, and I do understand it. Does cause a few problems, though. Now, the case for tanking, like I said, it does create a little hope for an organization. Like a small market team, for example, if they tank and they get a good draft pick, hello Giannis. I don't even think they really tanked for Giannis, actually, as I think about it. But let's just say Giannis came out and he was supposed to be this highly touted player, right? And you want to tank for Giannis? I understand it. I understand why for Joel and Bede, again, these players can help change your organization overnight. Victor Wimbinama changed his organization overnight. So we understand those. And for small market teams like OKC, realistically, before they popped off, how many players were really trying to go to OKC or the Bucks, right? Drafting for some teams is their best way at becoming champions. So it does, tanking does give struggling teams a legitimate way to reset and rebuild instead of being stuck in that purgatory, that mediocrity realm. Okay? Because without high draft picks, bad teams can get trapped in the middle. So sometimes it's not good enough to compete. And I understand that. But in basketball, we're supposed to compete, aren't we? Like, I get you want to have long-term plans. Okay? And it is rational under the current rules to tank. Like the old saying, don't hate the player, hate the game. Well, don't hate the player, hate the system. Because tanking is allowed, technically, by the NBA. We are incentivized, like teams are, to tank. Because you're trying to get the next best player. You're trying to hype up your fan base. Here's the crazy thing about it, though. Tanking actually hurts the fans. Because for at least a season, yes, some things are understandable, right? Like I understand the Washington Wizards wanting to tank. I get it. But fans are still paying full price for their tickets, those streaming packages and merchandises. Like the NBA is still selling their product at a premium rate. But with tanking, does that not dilute the product? It damages our trust as fans. Like, you mean to tell me my team is trying to lose? So they're helping out the alleged script writers. Like that's what we're looking, that's what we're thinking about as fans. The competitive integrity, it's missed. It affects playoff races, affects being in markets, player morale, tanking. It does have some gripes, ladies and gentlemen. And also, it doesn't always work. Again, the 76ers tank, yes, they are in championship talks year after year after year after year. Dane one, OKC did it. The Spurs look like they will be able to. But again, it doesn't always work. Losing can actually become a habit in the process of a team tanking still. Because respectfully, if you're gonna tank, you at least got to get to the to the finals at some point in time. Maybe even the conference finals. But like if you're gonna tank, have a good enough agenda, enough plan to get your team over the hump. Hello, OKC. Now, to be clear, the NBA has tried to curb tanking. Okay, like 2019, they flattened the lottery odds so that the three worst teams have an equal chance of being or getting the top pick. I hear it. I think sometimes, though, we might need to be a little more demonstrative in penalizing teams for tanking. Maybe removing draft lottery balls, no matter what your ranking is. So if you're a bottom three team, but people feel like, hey, you're tanking, all right, let's let's remove some of these lottery odds. Same thing with a team who might get the 10th pick or the 11th pick. If we feel like you were tanking, let's remove some of these lottery odds. Let's make the game a little bit more competitive, a little bit more honest. Now, things like the play-in tournament, I think those do encourage those lower tier teams, or at least the upper tier lottery teams, to try a little harder during the regular season. So you have less teams tanking early on. I'll give you that. But I do think we gotta we gotta talk about the draft odds. That could be something to talk about. And I heard that from a friend too, and I tried to think a little bit more about it. Removing the draft balls, I think that could the lottery balls, I think that could help out. I was thinking originally, maybe removing first-round pick or picks, that could be too egregious. But lowering your odds if you're deemed as tanking, that could be the answer. Now, it may be tough to try to figure that out as an example. I think the Utah Jazz were recently called out for tanking, but yet they they in fact beat the Miami Heat in that game. So could they be called tankers? Like maybe at some point in time during the season. Cool. Maybe. I don't think resting a star in the fourth quarter should serve primarily as tanking. Like we need to see a little bit more from NBA teams, which again, that may be hard to prove, too. I don't know how we answer this question wholeheartedly. I got an idea. Again, removing some of the ping pong balls that you get. There are over a thousand combinations that can be called during the ping pong balls. And each team gets assessed a couple of ping pong balls. So if you're deemed as a tanker, all right, we're gonna take some away. And and like I think maybe one or two per game could could suffice. That could work. And I think that would encourage NBA teams to, at minimum, not get caught tanking. So therefore, you're putting forth a little bit more effort. I might not be mad at that. Now, I've heard things like, like I said, the draft wheel, post-elimination wins, those can determine the draft order, right? Like once a team is eliminated from playoff contention, their draft order could be determined by how many games they win after elimination. That could be interesting. That could be a little interesting, but strength of schedule comes into mind too. So that could get a little tricky. Lottery for non-playoff teams only, no odds by record. So that means all non-playoff teams get equal odds. No benefit for being worse than the next team to you. I think that can make some things a little interesting as well, too, because those middle teams they could get better before those teams that really need it. Like, for example, when the Mavs and Spurs ended up getting the one and two pick over a team like the Wizards and the Jazz. I think that something like that could happen a little more often, so that could be a little interesting. But ladies and gentlemen, tanking. It has been a little tricky situation. Whether we're talking about from a player standpoint, an organization standpoint, or the fan standpoint. We gotta wonder how to fix this tanking culture. And there have been some teams that have thrived with tanking, there have been some teams that have failed with tanking. So my question is this, ladies and gentlemen. Is tanking good or bad? Yes, I know it's both, but like for you, is it good or bad? Is it more good or more bad? You can think about your own team, you can think about other teams in the NBA, then also think about you as a fan. If you know that a team is tanking and you went to go see that a specific player, like let's say you wanted to go see LeBron James or Kevin Durant play, and their teams were resting those players. That's the reason why you went to go watch the game, though. That affects your pockets, your hard-earned money, stuff like that. We got to take into consideration. So, again, ladies and gentlemen, what do you think? Is tanking a smart strategy or is it bad for basketball? I want to hear your thoughts. But, ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the end of my episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey, I'm the host of Get a Bucket. Hope you are all having a good one. Take care.