Tanking is a problem the NBA wants to eliminate, and rightfully so. There are teams in the league who have been tanking for multiple years, all the way back to the NBA Bubble season during 2020. To counteract this, the league has started looking into ways to limit tanking and to punish teams that do tank. The main problem, though, is that this will force the Washington Wizards to accelerate their rebuild, which could ruin the entire plan for this franchise.
The Wizards are tanking to some, but in reality, they are not. This team is focused on helping young players develop into stars. It is evident, mainly with Alex Sarr, who is making a strong case to make the All-Star game this season. Kyshawn George is another player who has excelled in the increased developmental minutes. This is called developing, not tanking, but with the new proposed rules, it won’t matter what it is called.
The New Proposed Anti-Tanking Rules
It was recently reported by Shams Charania of ESPN that the NBA and its stakeholders recently met to discuss ways to eliminate tanking. These suggestions included and were heavily focused on limiting pick protections, not allowing teams to draft in the top four in back-to-back years, and locking lottery positions on March first. While these sound like interesting ideas, the reality is that they would not work and would not get rid of the problem.
Sources said multiple ideas were proposed Friday as a brainstorming measure, including:
•Limiting pick protections to either top four or 14 and higher
•No longer allowing a team to draft in the top four two years in a row
•Locking lottery positions after March 1 https://t.co/ieLaS4P4qe
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 23, 2025
Limiting protections is not a bad idea, and should actually be welcomed. Picks should more than likely only be limited to the top ten in the draft, as those teams are usually the ones that did not make the play-in tournament. This would make it clear which teams willingly tank just to get their pick back. The other two suggestions are just insane to think they would work well.
Not allowing teams to draft in the top four in back-to-back seasons sounds fine and dandy until you realize it’s too late for it. The San Antonio Spurs are on the verge of becoming a superteam because they have drafted in the top four in back-to-back-to-back seasons. They did get lucky and move up in some of those drafts, but it is not fair to implement this now after a team has taken advantage of it. It creates a disadvantage for the Wizards, who look poised to get a top-three pick this season. If anything, it should be set up as if you get the first overall pick, you cannot select in the top three next season. This means teams like the Spurs cannot dominate the draft over others like the Wizards.
Jun 25, 2025; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Dylan Harper stands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the second pick by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Finally, locking lottery positions after March first would make tanking worse. It allows a team that is two games out of the playoffs a week before that deadline to intentionally lose games to get a better draft position. Then, that team could still make the playoffs and go on a deep run. It could create a draft monopoly for specific teams. In the rare case as well, a team could win the championship and still have the first overall pick because they tanked a week or two before that deadline, moved up in the draft, and then try to start winning again after securing a good pick.
All of these suggestions, though, would force Washington to find a way to quickly get out of the rebuild after this season. Teams have already reaped the benefits of the current draft system. In contrast, the Wizards have done nothing but suffer, consistently falling back in the draft instead of moving up or staying put. The NBA has recognized the problem too late. It is going to create a power vacuum where teams like the Wizards can never properly rebuild. Teams like the Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder will always be ahead of everyone else.