Adam Silver’s Tanking Fixes Don’t Work

Evan & Tiki

Audacy

Sports

4.2 • 988 Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2026

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The NBA’s tanking problem is out of control, and Adam Silver’s latest “solutions” feel like band-aids on a broken system. The guys run through the leaked ideas and explain why each one either misses the point or just changes when teams start tanking. Then comes the real answer: a end-of-season tournament that puts two prizes on the line, a top-two draft pick and the final playoff spot, forcing franchises, coaches, players, and fans to care again. Along the way, the conversation takes a detour into Olympic hockey drama, a huge late Canada goal, and whether the refs were helping the “gold medal” machine. Plus: callers jump in with competing anti-tank proposals, a “losing index” idea to keep blowouts from being rewarded, and the debate spills into Knicks panic talk, Brunson’s future payday countdown, and why regular-season matchups still don’t have to decide what happens in May.

Transcript

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0:00.0	While the NFL does have a tanking problem, the NBA's tanking problem is far worse.
0:04.8	And it is spread like a virus where teams are actively telling Adam Silver,
0:11.1	we don't care if you're going to find us $500,000.
0:13.9	We're going to do what's best because this has a chance to be a generational draft.
0:17.6	And we need to do what's best for business.
0:20.4	Yeah.
0:21.0	And so Adam Silver made it very clear last week right before the All-Star game that they're
0:25.7	working on new plans to curb tanking, and it was leaked out yesterday from Shams, courtesy of
0:31.0	Adam Silver and the NBA, several of the considerations that they are putting together to
0:35.9	stop tanking.
0:37.2	I'll read you them.
0:38.3	They all don't work. I'll just make that very important. Limitations on first round pick
0:43.1	protections. Teams not being allowed to pick in the top four a year after making the conference
0:47.3	finals. Teams being prohibited from selecting in the top four in consecutive years. Teams being
0:52.5	prohibited from selecting in the top four after consecutive bottom, teams being prohibited from selecting in the top four after
0:54.5	consecutive bottom three finishes. Also the idea of freezing the lottery odds at an earlier time
1:01.0	in the season, which does not work because teams would tank earlier. There is a solution, and this
1:07.7	solution has been talked about off and on for years. It just needs something to push it over the finish line.
1:12.6	There needs to be a tournament, a tournament at the end of the season that puts two things on the line.
1:19.6	The number one pick and a playoff spot.
1:22.6	Right.
1:23.6	Because players are not competing to get a draft pick for a player who would potentially replace them.
	...

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