The NBA has taken another major step to curb tanking behavior, with the league’s Board of Governors approving a package of anti-tanking changes that will reshape how the draft lottery works and how teams near the bottom of the standings are rewarded—or penalized. The update, first reported by ESPN, centers on expanding the draft lottery, adjusting the odds system, and introducing a structure that discourages teams from deliberately finishing poorly.
At the center of the new rules is a change to the lottery format. Under the revised approach, the draft lottery will expand from 14 teams to 16 teams. This is intended to reduce the advantage that teams can gain from being among the very worst in the league. In previous lottery structures, teams at the bottom had clearer pathways to high-value draft outcomes, and the NBA’s latest changes aim to make the process feel less predictable for clubs contemplating whether to compete or “go for a pick.” By including two additional teams in the lottery field, the league is effectively broadening the group of teams eligible for chance at top selections.
Beyond adding two more lottery participants, the NBA is also implementing a “relegation zone” concept. While the league has not described it as a formal promotion/relegation system like those seen in soccer, the logic is similar: teams that fall into a defined bottom tier will face a disadvantage in the lottery odds. Specifically, the new structure penalizes the bottom three teams. According to the report, these teams would receive diminished chances for securing the No. 1 overall pick, meaning that even if they finish last or among the very worst, they would not be guaranteed the most beneficial odds.
The bottom-three penalty is a key deterrent designed to make losing less attractive. If a team believes it can intentionally finish last and greatly improve its odds at the top pick, that strategy becomes less rational when the lottery math is adjusted against teams in the lowest bracket. By reducing the probability of landing the No. 1 pick for these clubs, the NBA aims to reduce the incentive to tank late in the season.
The NBA is also flattening the odds across the lottery. Flattened odds generally mean that the differences between teams’ lottery chances are smaller than before. In practice, that reduces how much the draft order can be leveraged strategically. If the league compresses the range of odds so that a team with an extremely poor record does not have an overwhelmingly higher chance than teams just above them, the financial and competitive payoff of tanking declines.
Taken together, the lottery expansion, bottom-three relegation-style penalty, and flattened odds reflect a broader league effort to maintain competitive integrity. Anti-tanking rules have been a recurring challenge in the NBA because teams can sometimes benefit from losing by positioning themselves for high draft selections. Those high picks can lead to franchise-changing talent, and the value of such selections can be amplified when teams are rebuilding. The NBA’s governing group appears to be targeting both the structure of the lottery and the incentive landscape that teams weigh when deciding how hard to compete.
ESPN reports that the changes were approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors and were passed as part of the league’s continuing overhaul of how it manages the draft system. The report indicates that these new rules include the expansion of the lottery field from 14 to 16 teams, the creation of a tiered approach to the bottom of the standings with a relegation zone that penalizes the bottom three clubs, and an overall flattening of odds so that the lottery rewards are not as sharply tilted toward the very worst teams.
This development is likely to have immediate implications for how teams approach the final stretch of the regular season. With the league reducing the ability for bottom teams to translate poor performance directly into the best possible odds at the No. 1 pick, teams may feel greater pressure to remain competitive even when the playoffs are out of reach.
The changes also carry consequences for fan perception and league optics. When viewers see teams intentionally underperforming, trust in the fairness of competition can erode. By reshaping the draft lottery mechanics—especially for teams at the bottom—the NBA is attempting to address the most contentious outcomes of tanking: the sense that losses can be strategically “cashed in” for elite talent.
While the details of implementation and timing were not fully elaborated in the report excerpt, ESPN’s account makes clear that the NBA’s decision is anchored in measurable modifications to lottery structure and odds. With the expanded lottery, penalized bottom-three teams, and flattened odds in place, the league is clearly aiming to preserve the value of draft lottery outcomes while lowering the payoff of intentionally losing.
Source: Shams Charania (ESPN), as reported via ESPN.
Shams Charania: Breaking: The NBA’s Board of Governors has passed new anti-tanking rules that include expanding the draft lottery from 14 to 16 teams, a relegation zone where the bottom 3 teams get penalized with lessened chances for the No. 1 pick, and flattened odds, sources tell ESPN.. #breaking
— @ShamsCharania May 1, 2026
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