NBA commissioner Adam Silver believes the new lottery system has decreased the incentive to tank, as he told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in an interview relayed by ESPN’s Royce Young.
Silver believes the former system created a “destructive” mindset in which teams intentionally waved the white flag in order to improve their future prospects. Fans bought into that mentality and preferred to see their team lose, simply to get a better draft choice.
“Hopefully, it’ll stop fans in those markets from rooting for their teams to perform poorly,” Silver said. “Because that race to the bottom is just destructive, I think, for everyone. Corrosive for players and franchises, and I think, in some cases, even some executives who knew better felt they couldn’t withstand the pressure from the communities, from the media in some cases, saying, ‘Why are you operating at this level when you should either get much better or much worse?'”
In the first year under the new system, the Pelicans moved to the top spot despite having only a six percent chance of getting that pick. The bottom three teams in the league had just a 14 percent chance to win the lottery, compared to 25 percent under the previous system. The new lottery also determined the top four picks, instead of top three.
The Knicks, who had the worst record, dropped to third, and the Cavaliers and Suns, who were tied for the second-most losses, wound up with the fifth and sixth picks.
“I think in this case now with the change in the lottery, people are going to realize that there’s only one way to build a franchise,” Silver said. “Of course, you need to get great players, but at the same time you need to build culture, you need strong management, you need strong coaching. And players incrementally get better year after year.”