NBA commissioner Adam Silver wants to crack down on tanking. Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks have the league's second-longest losing streak.
The Dallas Mavericks' 122-111 loss at the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday night continued a pre-All-Star break losing patch, stretching the streak to 10 losses in a row.
It's the second-longest active losing streak in the NBA (Sacramento has lost 15 straight) and the second-longest stretch in Mavericks franchise history dating back to last millennium.
Earlier in the week-long break from regular-season games, NBA commissioner Adam Silver responded to the league's widespread tanking problem, where teams around this time of year have begun to focus less on winning and more on dropping in the standings to pursue a higher pick in the next NBA Draft.
As reported by ESPN, here are a few anti-tanking regulations that are under consideration in the league office:
- First-round draft picks can be protected only for top-four or top-14-plus selections
- Lottery odds freeze at the trade deadline or a later date
- No longer allowing a team to pick in the top four in consecutive years and/or after consecutive bottom-three finishes
- Teams can't pick in the top four the year after making conference finals
- Lottery odds allocated based on two-year records
- Lottery extended to include all play-in teams
- Flatten odds for all lottery teams
Silver was reportedly "forceful" with his message to teams' general managers during an executive meeting last week about the issue.
Shams Charania claims sources said "[former Duke coach] Mike Krzyzewski, the senior adviser to basketball operations for the league office, delivered a message at Thursday's meeting that there should be a prompt, tasteful "attack" on the problem and that all involved should be prepared to respond to what the league enacts in the coming months and year."
Silver believes the tanking is "worse" this year than it has been in the past, though it's been a topic of conversation for the better part of this decade. The apparent frequency this year can directly translate, to what is widely considered a transcendent 2026 NBA Draft class, including sought-after prospects like Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer.
These reports may be looked at as a warning of what's to come in the future, but the league as also enforced penalties on teams this season for tanking. The NBA fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and Indiana Pacers $100,000 for sitting non-injured players for entire games. They were described as "moves that compromise its integrity won't be tolerated."
In the meantime, the Mavs are losing games authentically; they aren't needing to sit their best players when their best players are already hurt. Oh, and minority owner Mark Cuban has let his opinions fly, saying the league should "embrace" tanking by admitting that the Mavs have in the past.
Kyrie Irving (knee) has officially been ruled out for the season, and Cooper Flagg has missed games before and now after the All-Star break with a midfoot sprain that is considered "day-to-day".
How does head coach Jason Kidd respond to the tanking conversations?
"That word 'tanking' is sometimes misused," Kidd said to the media before the Minnesota game. "Sometimes teams aren’t trying to tank. They just don’t have enough firepower to win. A serious injury to a star player can pivot a franchise, and that happens, but I think we’re in good hands with the league."
The Mavs play at the Pacers in Indianapolis on Sunday. Indiana, led by former Mavs coach Rick Carlisle, sits last in the East one season removed from winning the conferernce championship, largely due to star point guard Tyrese Haliburton being out for the season with a torn Achilles suffered in Game 7 of the 2025 Finals against Oklahoma City.
"They’ll come up with some new rule to try to stay away from that word 'tanking,'" Kidd says. "When we talk about tanking, there’s only a few. Hopefully that doesn’t ruin the batch for the others that are trying to play."