Fan Reactions

New draft lottery proposal raises eyebrows among NBA fans

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1 day ago

NBA commissioner Adam Silver takes the stage at the beginning of the 2025 NBA Draft. Brad Penner -- IMAGN IMAGES

The NBA turned heads this week when a new draft lottery system proposal was revealed, part of an anti-tanking initiative by the league.

Under the new system, the lottery would expand to 16 teams with flattened odds. Most notably, the three teams with the worst record would be penalized with fewer lottery balls in the drawing for the top pick.

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The NBA's proposed lottery odds reform, visualized ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rXm7FuK4oP

— Lev Akabas (@LevAkabas) April 29, 2026

Those three teams only would receive two lottery balls and teams 4-10 would receive three. The Nos. 9 and 10 play-in seeds in each conference would receive two lottery balls each, while the losers of the 7-8 play-in games would receive one lottery ball each.

The new proposal still faces a final owners vote in May, but ESPN reports that it has support from the majority of NBA teams.

Regardless, the news caused outrage online and left many wondering why the league would punish the bottom three teams so harshly, especially if they aren’t taking and are simply bad teams.

Sooo… what you’re saying is that now the worst teams with the least talent will have even less of a chance to get better. https://t.co/M9C3B4RBia

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) April 28, 2026

When you see it like this it’s even more baffling that it got approved

— rob (@robdarke) April 29, 2026

Good! Tanking this year has been shameful.

Franchises should learn how to build a winner like the Spurs and Thunder: By tanking 4-6 years ago! https://t.co/FflnyzYXR2

— amir (@blumenfeld) April 29, 2026

The 9th seed and the worst record in the league is gonna have the same odds 😭 https://t.co/HucvwyNJxC

— BSOLZ (@BSOLZ_) April 29, 2026

This doesn’t seem to account for bad teams just being bad.

But maybe I don’t understand 4D NBA tanking. https://t.co/FJz6eTyUkX

— Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) April 29, 2026

Why would we penalize bad teams with worse picks

— ClipperGeorge (@Geosimoburner) April 28, 2026

The goal of tanking reform should not be to make it so the worst teams have less incentive to lose, it should be to make it so fewer teams have incentive to tank.

Every time we flatten odds and increase number of teams who can get the number one pick, we make the problem worse. https://t.co/QoVo9GAlu0

— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) April 28, 2026

This is genuinely terrible
– Punishes the worst teams (and keeps them bad). Fails to acknowledge teams can be bad without actively tanking
– Moves the tank clearly to the 4-10 window which will do nothing to fix the watchability of March basketball https://t.co/0JHXvDvPnt

— Mike Zavagno (@MZavagno11) April 28, 2026

This is objectively the dumbest thing I’ve seen a professional sports league do. https://t.co/KtZcISbcw2

— Jason Harmon (@JasonHarmonNFL) April 29, 2026

feel like this also really incentivizes punting the season to some degree if you’re the 7-10 seed https://t.co/SV1KFT71BH

— subscribe to the state of the league patreon (@JoestarJokic) April 29, 2026

To be fair, if the new proposal did actually eliminate tanking, than the bottom three teams would truly be the worst teams in the league. In that case, the proposal would still punish those teams with worse lottery odds.

This new system produces as many questions as it does answers, but it could reportedly be implemented as early as the 2027 NBA Draft.

James Parker is a sports writer for Ball Exclusives, follow him on X @TheJames_Parker

About the Author Published Apr 29, 2026

JAMES PARKER

James Parker is a sports reporter and writer for Ball Exclusives. With a bachelor's degree earned at the age of 19, he’s spent years working as a sports journalist, including an award-winning stint at The Appalachian.