League proposes anti-tank rules to owners amid gambling scandal

As it is The NBA has taken a stance on injury reporting rules and called for changes for sports gambling with new rules implemented over the past week, the league has now taken steps to tackle potential conflicts with teams. While it is The NBA is apparently frustrated with teams manipulating the current rules to gain better draft position near the end of the season, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports on ideas put forward by the league to combat tanking.

“At Friday’s board of governors meeting, the league floated several ideas around potential rule modifications regarding draft pick protection, the lottery and other possible approaches, according to multiple sources,” Charania wrote Tuesday morning to ESPN.

Charania noted that the league has seen teams lock up players early or sit certain players to improve draft positioning, especially when they’re linked to a protected pick. The NBA has been mulling certain ideas, such as limiting pick protection or even reducing back-to-back draft endings, an ESPN insider explained.

“Limiting pick protection to the top four or 14 and up, that would eliminate the problematic protection in the middle of the lottery,” Charania continued as he outlined the idea the league has of limiting tanking measures by teams. “No longer allowing a team to draft in the top four two years in a row. Locking lottery positions after March 1st.”

NBA makes changes after federal arrests, including Terry Rozier

Some The situations surrounding the NBA this season have been unprecedentedlike the federal arrests earlier this season of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers Chauncey Billupsand former player Damon Jones. The league already implemented new rules on Friday to “combat insider information and performance manipulation.”

An important note, though, is that the NBA’s proposal for these new rules isn’t “intended to deter rebuilding teams that use their players as normal,” but rather franchises that use holes in their roster to gain an advantage.

“As multiple sources have described, attempts to find solutions to tanking are not intended to deter rebuilding teams that use their players in the usual way, but rather teams that intentionally manipulate their rosters during the season to gain more pick or reach coverage,” Charania wrote.

Either way, it remains to be seen what the NBA will finalize and whether the long-term impacts will pan out.