NBA News: League introduces draft lottery changes

facebooktwitterreddit

With the idea of tanking to a #1 pick having met a climax last season in a loaded draft class, the NBA knew a change must be made. On Friday morning, Grantland’s Zach Lowe tweeted about a memo sent out to league owners about proposed changes to the draft lottery:

Lowe would go on to state that he expects this to pass with little resistance. He also revealed a league-wide disapproval of the current plan the Philadelphia 76ers are going through, which has seen them tank for multiple years in a row while also collecting a host of draft picks in hopes of building a roster entirely of drafted players. It’s hard to fault the 76ers, though, for simply following the rules and exploiting a certain aspect said rules.

For the Lakers, this would be good news. With many projecting the Lakers to be a bottom-feeder team again this year and find themselves in the draft lottery, it’s good news to see an improved chance at a top pick, moreso due to the fact that their first round pick this year would belong to the Suns if it falls outside of the top five. This means the Lakers’ chances of retaining their pick, should they fall into the draft lottery, would rise as opposed to the current format.

This would also lessen the likelihood of teams tanking to a certain degree. No longer would they be significantly better incentivized to finish with the worst record as opposed to the second worst record.

Do you like the idea of changing up the draft lottery? Let us know down below!