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Good Morning Dub Nation,
Although the Golden State Warriors have been too busy contending for championships to concern themselves with the idea of tanking, it remains a “serious” issue that the league continues to monitor as they come up with new ways to ensure teams stay competitive throughout the season.
On Monday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver did an interview with ESPN while sharing his thoughts on tanking.
“You’re dealing with a 14% chance of getting the first pick,” Silver said. “I recognize at the end of the day analytics are what they are and it’s not about superstition. A 14% chance is better than a 1% chance or a no percent chance. But even in terms of straightforward odds, it doesn’t benefit a team to be the absolute worst team in the league, and even if you’re one of the poor-performing teams, you’re still dealing with a 14% chance [of winning the lottery].
“It’s one of these things where there’s no perfect solution, but we still think a draft is the right way to rebuild your league over time. We still think it makes sense among partner teams, where a decision was made where the worst-performing teams are able to restock with the prospects of the best players coming in. So we haven’t come up with a better system.”
One solution to tanking that has recently been going around is the idea of relegation – essentially forcing teams to remain competitive or risk being kicked out of the league with another team replacing them. Silver previously brought up relegation as a possible solution to tanking but also emphasized that there is no realistic and practical way for it to be implemented in the NBA.
“I can’t say I was deadly serious about relegation, because we don’t have the same system as European soccer and it would make no sense to send an NBA team to the G League or a G League team to the NBA,” Silver said.
“But obviously that is how other leagues deal with situations like this where they force teams to stay competitive because the consequences of finishing at the bottom of the league are dramatically detrimental to the health of the team. But it’s something as I was saying to the folks in Phoenix that we keep our eye on. We understand we are selling competition to our fans.”
NBA owners will never approve relegation, but it is an interesting idea as the league continues to combat tanking.
Here are the rest of today’s stories:
In case you missed it from Golden State of Mind:
- Preview: Warriors meet Suns in first road game of the season
- Experience and improvisation are keeping the Warriors afloat
- Podcast: Warriors vs. Kings recap
- Donte DiVincenzo out for at least a week
- How Donte DiVincenzo became ‘The Michael Jordan of Delaware’
- Player grades: Warriors vs. Kings
Other Warriors News:
- ‘Spaced Out’ book excerpt: How the Warriors’ ‘melting pot’ offense changed the NBA (The Athletic)
- Steph has funny response to Panthers trading CMC to 49ers (NBC Sports Bay Area)
- Steph achieves another absurd 3-point stat in win over Kings (NBC Sports Bay Area)
- Santa Cruz Warriors Announce 2022 Training Camp Roster (G League)
- Magic Johnson turned down opportunity to be part of Golden State Warriors ownership group (Lakers Daily)
NBA News:
- Adam Silver says NBA’s changes have greatly reduced incentives for tanking (ESPN)
- Nets’ Ben Simmons sounds off after fouling out for 2nd time in 3 games (ESPN)
- It’s Time for LA Lakers to Pull Russell Westbrook from Closing Lineup (Bleacher Report)
- NBA Power Rankings: Bucks climb to top of contenders tier; first impressions from all 30 teams (The Athletic)
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