INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Adam Silver hates that there are fans actively rooting for their favorite team to lose.
There's a lot of that this season. As we head into the final 30 games of the NBA season, a full one-third of teams are actively tanking ahead of what is expected to be one of the best and deepest drafts in a couple of decades.
"Are we seeing [tanking] behavior that is worse this year than we've seen in recent memory? Yes, is my view," Silver said Saturday at his annual press conference during All-Star Weekend. "Which was what led to those fines [of Jazz and Pacers], and not just those fines but to my statement that we're going to be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season in terms of teams' behavior, and very intentionally wanted teams to be on notice."
The Jazz were fined $500,000 because in two games last week they played their starters and two former All-Stars — Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. — about 25 minutes over the first three quarters, then sat them in the fourth despite the game still being in the balance. Orlando came back to beat Utah in one of those games, Miami was unable to complete a comeback..
To be clear, it's not the players who are tanking — they play hard when on the court — or the coaches, these are orders from the front office to sit people. Or the team extends a player's time out with an injury.
What is the league doing about it? There is only so much they can do.
Anyone who watches basketball knows it takes talent to win, and the best (and for many teams, only) way to acquire that kind of high-level talent is through the draft.
"Many of you in this room have written, understandably about our teams, that the worst place to be is to be a middle-of-the-road team," Silver said. "Either be great or be bad, because then that will help you with the draft. In many cases, you have fans of those teams -- remember, it's not what they want to pay for to see poor performance on the floor, but they're actually rooting for their teams in some cases to be bad to improve their draft chances."
Still, teams actively looking to lose and putting an inferior product on the court are bad for the sport. It's a black eye, and Silver said the league is taking a two-pronged approach to dealing with this.
"One is, again, focusing on the here and now, the behavior we're seeing from our teams and doing whatever we can to remind them of what their obligation is to the fans and to their partner teams," Silver said. "But number two, as I also said in that statement, the Competition Committee started earlier this year reexamining the whole approach to how the draft lottery works."
Silver sounded like someone ready to step back and consider major changes. The challenge is that every change to the system — small or large — will have unintended consequences.
"Ultimately, we need a system to fairly, I think, distribute players," Silver said. "But we've got to look at some fresh thinking here. What we're doing, what we're seeing right now is not working; there's no question about it. Yes, is there more I can do? Have I attempted not only to respond to behavior we've seen but send a clear message that we're going to be scrutinizing everything we see going forward? Absolutely."
Has there been talk about taking draft picks away from teams?
"There is talk about every possible remedy now to stop this behavior," Silver said.
NBA Expansion
The other big focus of Silver's pregame speech was on league expansion.
Silver reiterated something he said before, "We will make decisions in 2026." Just not in March, the next time the Board of Governors meets.
"My sense is at the March Board of Governors meetings we'll be having further discussions around an expansion process," Silver said. "We won't be voting at the March meeting, but we will likely come out of those meetings ready, prepared to take a next step in terms of potentially talking to interested parties...
"I think the logical next move would be to say, all right, we've had those discussions internally, we've made decisions about cities to focus on and what the opportunity is, and now we've got to go out into the marketplace. I think that's probably the most important step, to find out who is potentially interested in owning a franchise in particular cities, what's the value of that franchise. There's some work to do in terms of potential conference realignment. That's the next step there."
The reality is everyone knows the cities — Seattle and Las Vegas — and there are ready-to-go ownership groups in those places. Things are going to get more formal, but we can see where the train is headed.
There has been speculation about relocation — an existing team moving to Seattle, or maybe Las Vegas. Silver shot that down.
"Relocation is not on the table right now," he said.
Other Topics
• Silver pushed off any comment on the ongoing investigation into the Clippers. He said there is no timeline for when that will be completed, while reminding people that an outside law firm, not the NBA, is conducting that investigation.
"I haven't come to any decisions whatsoever yet on the Clippers' matter," Silver said.
He also said he would follow the league rules when making a decision.
"I am completely beholden to the constitution and the CBA," Silver said, putting on his lawyer hat. "I believe in the rule of law. I have broad powers in certain areas, but those are broad powers that are granted to me by those very documents."
• Giannis Antetokounmpo's investment in prediction market Kalshi raised eyebrows — a player investing in a platform where you can bet… er, buy a prediction contract on whether he gets traded this summer, has the potential for disaster. Silver, however, said that because his investment is for less than 1% of the company, he's in the clear. That was the rule established for players investing in legal gambling companies, and Silver said they are applying the same rules to prediction markets.
"That does not violate the rules that have been collectively bargained with the Players Association," Silver said.
