NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: ‘No Doubt’ That A ‘Very Deep Draft Class’ Is Triggering Tanking
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 14: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks at a press conference during 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend at Intuit Dome on February 14, 2026 in Inglewood, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the GettyImages License Agreement. (Photo by Ryan Sirius Sun/Getty Images)
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NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has “no doubt” that this year’s “very deep draft class” is triggering an increased motivation for tanking.
Silver made the comments during his annual press conference over All-Star weekend.
“Of course, I’m paying attention to what’s happening and the perception is you have a very deep draft class this year, a perception, who knows whether this will be the reality, that the next two draft classes aren’t as good,” Silver said. “There’s no doubt that’s effecting the behavior of our teams.
“But at the end of the day, I think all the teams need to step back, the ownership of those teams, just as a reminder that we’re all in this together, that we wanna have fair competition, we wanna have fair systems and to keep an eye on the fans, most importantly and they’re expectation that we’re going to be putting the best product forward.”
Led by Darryn Peterson of Kansas, AJ Dybantsa of BYU and Cameron Boozer of Duke, the top nine projected picks in this summer’s NBA Draft are college freshmen – and 11 of the top 12 – per Tankathon’s mock draft.
“This is the best freshman class that I can remember,” ESPN’s Jay Bilas said. “And it’s not just the fact that it’s really strong at the top, it’s how strong it is with the depth of the class.”
Teams like Sacramento, Washington, New Orleans, Indiana, Brooklyn, Utah and Dallas (which last year got projected NBA Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick) are all jockeying to get the best picks possible.
The NBA last week fined the Jazz $500,000 and the Pacers $100,000 for violating the league’s player participation policy because they sat key players in recent games.
The policy was put in place in September 2023 to try to discourage clubs from purposely losing in order to improve their chances with the draft lottery.
The Jazz did not play stars Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the fourth quarter of recent close games. Both played three quarters in recent road games against Miami and Orlando. The Magic rallied from 17 points down to win 120-117, but the Jazz defeated the Heat 115-111.
The Pacers held out Pascal Siakam and two other starters in a Feb. 3 game against the Jazz.
Silver said “tanking” is getting worse.
“The league is 80 years old,” he said. “It’s time to take a fresh look at this and to see whether that’s an antiquated way.”
“We got to look at some fresh thinking here,” he added. “What we’re doing, what we’re seeing right now, is not working. There’s no question about it.”
The commissioner concluded: “Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory? Yes, is my view.”
Some fans support tanking by their teams as the best way to turn around their franchises.
“In many cases, you have fans of those teams [who say] maybe it’s not what they want to pay to see poor performance on the floor, but they’re actually rooting for their teams in some cases to be bad to improve their draft chances,” Silver observed.
(The AP contributed reporting)
