Sources: Silver talks possible tanking solutions

NBA commissioner Adam Silver, successful caller comments to Phoenix Suns employees, addressed imaginable solutions for tanking portion noting that helium understands wherefore teams would bash it erstwhile a "once-in-a-generation player" is astir to participate the league, according to sources who were present.

Calling it a "serious issue" that has sparked "hundreds" of meetings, Silver's comments came this week during a question-and-answer league successful the Suns' arena, wherever Silver besides apologized aggregate times connected behalf of the league bureau to a ample radical of Suns employees for workplace misconduct nether bulk squad proprietor Robert Sarver.

During the session, 1 worker asked Silver astir tanking, a taxable that is wide expected to predominate the league speech with 7-foot-4 French phenom Victor Wembanyama -- a perchance franchise-altering imaginable -- being projected to beryllium the No. 1 prime successful the 2023 draft.

"We enactment teams connected notice," Silver told employees. "We're going to beryllium paying peculiar attraction to the contented this year."

Speaking of a conception successful European soccer, Silver told employees that the league has thought astir relegation arsenic a imaginable solution to guarantee the worst-performing teams are incentivized to compete. But the commissioner past said relegation would beryllium "destabilizing" to the NBA.

In specified a scenario, Silver told employees, relegation would fundamentally mean demoting the worst 1 oregon 2 teams to the G League portion promoting the champion squad oregon 2 from the G League to the NBA.

"It would truthful disrupt our concern model," Silver told employees. "And adjacent if you took 2 teams up from the G League, they wouldn't beryllium equipped to vie successful the NBA."

In an effort to assistance trim tanking, the NBA flattened draught lottery likelihood successful 2019, truthful present teams with the 3 worst regular-season records each person a 14% accidental of winning the lottery. (Before that, the squad with the worst grounds had a 25% chance, the second-worst squad had a 19.9% accidental and the third-worst squad had a 15.6% chance.)

Still, Silver told employees that tanking remains an contented this season.

"It's thing we person to ticker for," Silver said. "A draught is, successful principle, a bully system. But I get it, particularly erstwhile determination is simply a consciousness that a once-in-a-generation subordinate is coming along, similar we person this year." Silver didn't notation Wembanyama by name, sources contiguous said, but added that the league volition set arsenic necessary.

"Teams are smarter, they are creative, and they respond -- we move, they determination -- truthful we're ever looking to spot whether there's yet a amended system," Silver told employees.

Silver besides addressed a question astir league expansion, which helium told Suns employees the league volition look astatine much intimately erstwhile it is done its upcoming tv rights negotiations. (The NBA's existent TV rights package, a nine-year woody with ESPN and Turner Sports, is slated to expire aft the 2024-25 season.)

"In bid to measure immoderate teams coming in, we request to cognize wherever we basal from a media standpoint; that's evidently our astir important signifier of gross overall," Silver told employees.

But Silver besides discussed the "potential dilution of talent" -- that is, adding much teams would weaken the wide product.

"None of america tin retrieve going into a play wherever determination was a cognition of truthful overmuch competition, but, still, the extremity is to person 30 competitory teams, not 20, oregon immoderate it is, truthful deliberation we bash wage attraction to the dilution factor," helium told employees.

Still, Silver said that the league is, overall, doing good and that determination is nary shortage of beardown candidates for caller teams successful caller cities, though helium didn't sanction immoderate circumstantial cities. Las Vegas and Seattle are considered apt candidates for caller NBA teams should the league expand.