Tanking has been the hot button topic around the NBA, and team owners have now gotten in on the conversation. Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia had some strong words on social media about the prospect of teams tanking around the league to better position themselves for one of the top draft prospects coming out of college.
“This is ridiculous! Tanking is losing behavior done by losers,” Ishbia wrote on X. “Purposely losing is something nobody should want to be associated with. Embarrassing for the league and for the organizations. And the talk about this as a ‘strategy’ is ridiculous.”
The topic of tanking was ever-present during All-Star weekend, with league commissioner Adam Silver saying during his annual press conference that the tanking has been “worse” this year compared to seasons past.
“Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory?” Silver asked rhetorically. “Yes, in my view. Which is what led to those fines. And not just the fines, but my statement that we’re going to be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season in terms of teams’ behavior and very intentionally wanted teams to be on notice.”
Mark Cuban explains why NBA ‘should embrace tanking,’ prioritize fans in wake of Adam Silver’s remarks
Brad Crawford
Silver handed down a hefty $500,000 fine to the Utah Jazz for holding out players in the fourth quarter in close games in an effort to lose games. A $100,000 fine was also given to the Indiana Pacers for holding healthy players out of games entirely.
The fine given to the Jazz was among the largest we’ve ever seen, and was clearly supposed to serve as a message to the rest of the league about their tanking tactics. Will it change things? Probably not. But Ishbia thinks “massive changes” need to happen to curb this behavior.
“If you are a bad team, you get a good pick,” Ishbia wrote on social media. “That makes sense. But purposely shutting down players and purposely losing games is a disgrace and impacts the integrity of whole league. This is much worse than any prop bet scandal. This is throwing games strategically. Horrible for fans that pay to watch and cheer on their team. And horrible for all the real teams that are competing for playoff spots.”
“Awful behavior that Adam Silver and the NBA will need to stop with massive changes, and I have complete confidence that with his leadership, he will fix it. Those of us in a position of influence need to speak out… the only “strategy” is doing right by fans, players, and the NBA community.”
Ishbia didn’t offer any options for what should be done to stop this blatant tanking, but his thoughts are in direct opposition to what Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban thinks on the topic. Cuban also took to social media recently to say that the NBA should “embrace tanking,” as it’s one of the proven ways for teams to improve their championship hopes.
That’s especially true of small market teams — like the Jazz — who will never be able to outpace teams like the Los Angeles Lakers or New York Knicks in trying to sign top-tier free agents simply because the team exists in Utah and not a market like Los Angeles or New York.
We’ll see if the league tries to make any meaningful changes to limit tanking, but it’s been an unsolvable problem for years now. And in a year where the draft is loaded with elite talent, of course every team is going to prioritize their draft positioning over getting the No. 8 spot in the playoffs just to get swept. It’s a situation the league created by awarding the worst team with the top pick in the past and then flattening the odds to allow several teams a more equal shot at landing that top pick.
So unless there’s drastic, sweeping changes, tanking isn’t going anywhere.