That hasn\u2019t stopped clubs like the Chicago White Sox, who broke the MLB record for losses in a season with 121 in 2024, and Colorado Rockies (a league-high 119 losses last season, their third straight 100-loss campaign) from trying to tank their way back to contention. <\/p>\n
The 102-loss South Siders earned the No. 1 pick in 2026<\/a> and have lost 100 games in three consecutive seasons. Their never-ending tankathon gift-wrapped ace Garrett Crochet for the Red Sox. Thanks, guys.<\/p>\n In hockey, the San Jose Sharks lived up to their arena\u2019s shark tank cognomen under former Boston University star Mike Grier, starting with the 2022-2023 season. Grier made sure the Sharks had the league\u2019s worst record during the 2023-24 season, trading three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson before the season and All-Star forward Tom\u00e1\u0161 Hertl at the trade deadline. <\/p>\n The No. 1 pick prize was BU\u2019s Macklin Celebrini. Behind Celebrini and Boston College\u2019s Will Smith (No. 4 overall in 2023), the rebooted Sharks are on track for their first sub-44 loss season since 2022. <\/p>\n Last season, the Jets started woefully unqualified quarterback Brady Cook in their final four games under the guise of evaluation<\/a>, even after veteran QBs Tyrod Taylor and Justin Fields were healthy. <\/p>\n Anyone evaluating the rookie Cook knew the only way he could help the J-E-T-S find their next franchise quarterback was by being a signal-caller sacrificial lamb.<\/p>\n People around here are still mad that the Patriots won their 2024 season finale and dropped to the fourth pick (tackle-for-now Will Campbell).<\/p>\n The NBA deals with a dubious double standard here. Some of this is self-perpetuated by practices like load management.<\/p>\n Yet, it feels more than purely coincidental that the league with the highest percentage of black players is regarded as the one with the most competitive insouciance and questionable effort issues. (Baseball, anyone?) That perpetuates a racist trope about Black men. <\/p>\n The NBA shouldn\u2019t fuel this by acting like its tanking problem is greater. It\u2019s not.<\/p>\n Unwittingly, that is what Silver is doing when he spotlights the conversation and the fines he issued <\/a>to the Danny and Austin Ainge-led Utah Jazz ($500,000) and the Indiana Pacers ($100,000) for \u201covert behavior\u201d prioritizing draft position over winning, as Silver did at the NBA All-Star festivities in Los Angeles. (Both teams sat players the league felt should\u2019ve been playing, with the Jazz sitting active stars in fourth quarters.)<\/p>\n Wise fans understand what the Jazz, stuck on the treadmill of futility, and Pacers, who were in the NBA Finals last year but playing this season sans injured star Tyrese Haliburton, are doing by prioritizing the future. Silver acknowledged so.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of you have written, understandably, about our teams that the worst place to be is to be a middle-of-the-road team. Either be great or be bad, because then that will help you with the draft,\u201d said Silver.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many cases, you have fans of those teams \u2014 it\u2019s not what they want to pay for, to see poor performance on the floor \u2014 but they\u2019re actually rooting for their teams in some cases to be bad to improve their draft chances.\u201d<\/p>\n Bingo. It\u2019s not the affront and sports scourge it\u2019s being made out to be. Former Mavericks principal owner and current minority owner Mark Cuban hews closer to the truth.<\/a><\/p>\n Expecting teams to mindlessly chase singular wins with no endgame benefit or reward is myopic. It displays child-like na\u00efvet\u00e9 about how the world works. Yes, ideally, competitive integrity and probity would equate to automatic success. They don\u2019t.<\/p>\n Seeking deliverance through the draft is nothing new in sports. What the NBA and tanking have is a PR problem, not an ethical one. Tanking needs a rebrand like the way smoking became vaping. <\/p>\n It needs to be dressed up in corporate earnings projection argot: We\u2019re reordering and reprioritizing our outlook and operating procedures to focus on R&D, which will maximize future returns and projections. <\/p>\n That sounds more high-minded than effectively embracing losing in the short term for long-term gain. <\/p>\n Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at christopher.gasper@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @cgasper<\/a> and on Instagram @cgaspersports<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4E7KYHU7ZUCTG5E2V2Y52ST2R4.jpg\")
The San Jose Sharks’ reward for the worst record in the NHL in 2023? Former BU center Macklin Celebrini, who has taken off this season and dragged his young mates into the playoff hunt.Jeff Chiu\/Associated Press<\/p>\n