Silver concerned by tanking, says relegation would be 'destabilizing' for NBA

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league is monitoring potential tanking this season but isn't equipped to implement a relegation system to discourage teams from losing games.

"We put teams on notice," Silver said Wednesday, sources told ESPN's Baxter Holmes. "We're going to be paying particular attention to the issue (of tanking) this year."

Silver said the league office has considered a potential relegation system - akin to the ones in European soccer - to penalize the league's worst teams. Under such a system, the NBA would demote the worst one or two teams to the G League at the end of the season.

However, Silver said such a practice would be "destabilizing" to the league.

"It would so disrupt our business model," he said. "And even if you took two teams up from the G League, they wouldn't be equipped to compete in the NBA."

Silver has spoken numerous times about the league's desire to reduce tanking. In 2019, the league changed the draft lottery system, flattening the odds so that no team has more than a 14% chance of getting the No. 1 pick. Previously, the team with the worst record had a 25% chance, the second-worst had a 19.9% chance, and the third-worst had a 15.6% chance.

Three years later, the league is still searching for solutions for tanking.

"Teams are smarter, they are creative, and they respond. We move, they move - so we're always looking to see whether there's yet a better system," Silver said.