NBA teams on Thursday, May 28, 2026, voted overwhelmingly to approve sweeping anti-tanking reforms that overhaul the draft lottery system starting with the 2027 NBA Draft. By a reported 29-1 margin, the Board of Governors ratified commissioner Adam Silver’s “3-2-1” plan, which expands the lottery from 14 to 16 teams, flattens odds among non-playoff clubs, and introduces penalties for the league’s worst records. The reforms are “designed to eliminate incentives for teams to prioritize their position in the Draft over winning games,” according to the league statement.
Under the new system, the three teams with the worst regular-season records are “draft relegated” and will receive only two ping-pong balls each, giving them a 5.4% chance at the No. 1 pick. That is the same number of balls allocated to the four teams that finish ninth and 10th in the conference standings. The seven teams that neither make the play-in tournament nor finish among the bottom three will each receive three lottery balls, creating an 8.1% chance for each to secure the top pick. The two teams that lose the play-in games between the No. 7 and 8 seeds will get one ball apiece. In total, 37 balls will be in the hopper, meaning the teams finishing 21st through 27th in the league now have better odds than the bottom three.
This marks a dramatic shift from the system being replaced, where the bottom three teams each had a 14% chance at No. 1 and the next seven teams’ odds ranged from 3% to 11.5%. The new rules also add structural guardrails: no team can win the No. 1 pick in back-to-back lotteries, and no team can receive a top-five pick in three straight drafts. The restrictions apply only to each team’s own pick, whether retained or traded. As a result, for the 2027 NBA Draft, the Utah Jazz will not be eligible for a top-five pick because they selected in the top five the previous two years.
The move comes after years of criticism that the lottery incentivized losing, with multiple low-ranked teams benching healthy players and drawing fines for “management of their rosters.” Silver warned that financial penalties were not working and made combating tanking a priority at the 2026 All-Star Game. While the league said the “3-2-1” format removes the reward for finishing last, some analysts note it may instead favor franchises finishing in the middle of the lottery standings. The Memphis Grizzlies were the only team to vote against the measure. The system will be in place at least through the 2029 draft, after which the Board of Governors will assess whether it has worked and decide to continue or adjust it.
