It’s still early, but Nets fans should know that a lot goes into Lottery positioning. At this point, Brooklyn is competing with the Wizards, Pacers, and Pelicans for the worst record in the NBA, but Indiana and New Orleans should theoretically be better than they are. https://t.co/DFTGnVZTPN pic.twitter.com/3Dy94x77su

— Sharif Phillips-Keaton (@SharifKeaton) November 17, 2025

The Brooklyn Nets have made it clear since they traded guard Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks two summers ago for a bevy of first-round picks that they are rebuilding. Brooklyn does not have their franchise player as of this writing and while the hope is one of their five 2025 first-round picks can fit that bill, it’s fair to wonder if rebuilding is beneficial these days.

“The NBA’s attempts to curb tanking include changing the draft lottery odds. In 2019, the league flattened the odds among all qualified teams and gave the three teams with the lowest odds an equal 14% chance of securing the No. 1 pick,” Front Office Sports wrote when discussing how many teams with poor records there are almost a quarter of the way through the 2025-26 campaign.

“The changes have somewhat worked,” Front Office Sports continued. “The Mavericks won the 2025 NBA lottery with a 1.8% chance. Late-season NBA games have had more stakes as teams battled to qualify for the top six—an automatic playoff berth—to avoid the play-in. But certain organizations continue to believe tanking is the quickest way to the top, especially when they see the performance of teams like the Spurs, who have been selected in the top four in the last three drafts.”

One of the main talking points regarding Brooklyn’s season thus far has been whether the team is doing enough to secure one of the premium picks in the 2026 NBA Draft that can be used to secure their next star. The upcoming draft is expected to be filled with star power highlighted by Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, BYU forward AJ Dybantsa, and Duke forward Cameron Boozer.

However, the 2025 NBA Draft is probably the latest testament that the NBA changing the Lottery odds to disincentivize teams from rebuilding is having its intended effect. As Front Office Sports mentioned, along with the X post below illustrating it, the Dallas Mavericks, who were just four games below .500, ended up with the first overall pick while the Utah Jazz, the team with the worst record last season, ended up with the fifth pick.

As some Nets fans have pointed out, playing the numbers game is important for teams like the Nets given that each rebuilding team should be trying to give themselves the best chance to get the highest pick. As the 2025 NBA Draft Tankathon listing shows, the teams that wound up with a top-3 pick were either teams with close to winning records or the Philadelphia 76ers that began the season with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George and were expected to be one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference.

Ultimately, time will tell if the Nets going into a full-blown rebuild will ever net them a player that grows into their franchise player and that will be the determining factor in whether tanking is beneficial. With how tough this season has been for Brooklyn, general manager Sean Marks and the rest of the front office has to hope that the reward with be one of Peterson, Dybantsa, or Boozer for their troubles.

In my opinion, this is why the NBA Lottery had to change in some way. I understand that tanking is an issue, but the point of a draft isn’t for the good teams to get the best players. It’s for the bad teams to get those guys. pic.twitter.com/EVwhPSjcPK

— Sharif Phillips-Keaton (@SharifKeaton) May 13, 2025