NBA owners voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to approve sweeping anti-tanking reforms designed to discourage teams from deliberately losing games to secure better draft position. By a reported 29-1 margin, with the Memphis Grizzlies casting the lone dissenting vote, the Board of Governors ratified a new “3-2-1” lottery system that will take effect beginning with the 2027 NBA Draft. The changes expand the draft lottery from 14 to 16 teams and fundamentally reshape the odds structure that previously rewarded the league’s worst records with the best chances at the No. 1 pick.
Under the new format, the three teams with the worst regular-season records will be “draft relegated” and receive only two ping-pong balls each, giving them a 5.4% chance at the top pick. That is the same number allocated to the four teams that finish ninth and 10th in each conference and enter the lottery as play-in participants. The two teams that lose the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in tournament games will receive one ball. Meanwhile, the seven teams that neither qualify for the play-in tournament nor finish in the bottom three will each receive three balls, giving them an 8.1% chance at No. 1. In total, 37 balls will be in the hopper, compared with the previous system where the bottom three teams each had a 14% chance and the next seven teams’ odds ranged from 3% to 11.5%.
The reforms also add competitive safeguards. No team can win the No. 1 pick in back-to-back lotteries, and no team can collect a top-five pick in three straight lotteries. The restrictions apply only to each team’s own pick, regardless of whether it was retained via trade. The three draft-relegated teams also cannot fall past No. 12 in the draft order, creating a floor that limits how far they can drop.
Commissioner Adam Silver had pushed for more potent changes after fines for “management of their rosters” proved ineffective at curbing tanking. NBA executive vice president Evan Wasch said the league wanted to maintain teams’ ability to build through the draft but no longer reward “the very worst teams with the top odds”. The bottom 10 teams will still hold 73% of the odds, but the flattening is intended to eliminate incentives for prioritizing draft position over winning games.
The 3-2-1 system will be in place for at least the 2027-29 drafts, after which the Board of Governors will assess whether the new rules have worked and decide to continue or adjust them. Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia, who has been outspoken against tanking and called it “losing behavior done by losers,” was cited by the league in unveiling the plan. The NBA said the reforms reflect input from meetings with key stakeholders since October and follow years of criticism that the draft system encouraged teams to bottom out for elite prospects.
