In the intimacy of a meeting with employees of the Suns to whom he had come to apologize, Adam Silver had answered questions about “tanking”, this practice which consists of losing as many matches as possible to give oneself more chances of getting the 1st choice of the Draft. Next June, Victor Wembanyama will be the 1st choice of this Draft, and some teams will target the Frenchman before even considering qualifying for the playoffs, or even the title. This is what worries the NBA boss, who is seeking sanctions to prevent the championship from being distorted. Even if he believes that the current system has considerably slowed down “tanking” since the worst record in the NBA no longer has a one in four chance of having the 1st choice.
“At best, you have a 14% chance of getting the first choice”, reminds Silverabout the three worst balance sheets. “I recognize that in the end the odds are what they are and it’s not superstition. 14% chance is better than 1% chance, or no chance at all. But it’s not as good for a team to be the worst team in the league anymore, and even if you’re one of the worst performing teams, you also have a 14% chance [de décrocher le 1er choix]. »
“I can’t say that I was very serious about relegation”
During this meeting with Suns employees, Silver explained that the NBA had even thought about a relegation system to force franchises to win matches…
“I can’t say I was very serious about relegation because we don’t have the same system as European football and it wouldn’t make sense to send an NBA team to the G League or a team of the G League in the NBA » reassures Silver. “But obviously that’s how other leagues deal with situations like this, where they force teams to stay competitive because the consequences of finishing bottom of the league are dramatically detrimental to the health of the league. ‘crew. But like I was telling the folks in Phoenix, it’s something we keep an eye on. We are aware of selling competition to our fans”.
