Everyone, shut down your tanks and exit through the hatches. The NBA regular season is over, and the odds for next month’s draft lottery are officially set.
Tanking in the NBA has been a subject of derision for about as long as the league has held the draft lottery, but the situation has truly boiled over in the last year. Last season saw the Mavericks, fresh off of the controversial Luka Dončić trade, land the No. 1 pick used to take Cooper Flagg despite the 11th best odds (1.8%) in the league. Dallas, 39–43 a year ago, did not trade Dončić in order to tank, and actually made the play-in tournament. Still, the stunning lottery win set the stage for a season that promises to alter the draft rules substantially.
