NBA Weighs Flattened Top Pick Odds and 18 Team Lottery

The NBA presented three anti-tanking proposals to the board of governors, and two of them have "strong" support from several general managers and owners, reporters Marc Stein and Jake Fischer say. The favored ideas would flatten the odds for the top pick to eight percent for all 10 teams that miss the play-in and expand the lottery to 18 teams to include every club that reaches the play-in, per Shams Charania. The third idea would create a 22-team lottery using a two-year record and enforce a minimum win floor. Merlin sees a league nudging teams away from deliberate losing and toward steady competitiveness. Flattening the top odds and widening the pool would dilute tanking gains and reward consistent roster building. Expect lively debate, tweaks, and bargaining before any rule is final.