Tanking in the NBA has been attributed to so many different failed and unintentional incentives, but these analyses are surface level.

The root of the problem is obvious.

All tanking is caused by playing basketball.

If we were to outlaw basketball, perhaps under a new article of the Geneva convention, tanking would cease to negatively impact the NBAs product.

There are some holes in this theory. Some would say I haven’t gone far enough and that balls, hoops, and perhaps all spheres and tori should be outlawed, but I believe these may have unintentional consequences that could lead to other problems down the line.

Let me know what you think?

ajteitel | Suns

68 | 13 hours ago

Somehow the most reasonable suggestion

One_Breadfruit_301 | Vancouver Grizzlies

19 | 13 hours ago

We are all watching WWE sports. It’s so obvious now.

Brought to you by Fan Duel, Draft Kings, Bet MGM, Kalshi, the White House.

stillmebeaches

-4 | 11 hours ago

I’m still surprised there’s no betting on wrestling

skasolo

8 | 10 hours ago

You can absolutely bet on wrestling

stillmebeaches

-3 | 10 hours ago

Okay I believe you but who’s dumb enough to do that

joomla00

6 | 8 hours ago

People that watch wrestling

wormhole222 | Heat

-8 | 11 hours ago

I can’t believe how much people defend tanking. It feels like people are brainwashed.

Over_Use_8474 | Lakers

-1 | 6 hours ago

Straight up. There is tons of talent up for grabs. But the players that make the most money for owners are the young stars who are drafted. A team would he lucky if a top pick became as good as a ja morant or a Trae young, but they aren’t gonna be as marketable.

ErrForceOnes

12 | 12 hours ago

The problem with your proposal is that people are gonna watch and play basketball whether or not it’s legal. Then you’ll have teams tanking in unregulated gyms while Kenny, Chuck, Ernie and Shaq whisper their analysis before getting sidetracked by the big ol women in San Antonio.

madax-gambar | Raptors

11 | 13 hours ago

I know this is a troll post, but the nba could take a lesson from the pwhl (women’s professional hockey league) – the worst team with the most points gets the first overall pick. it ensures competitiveness amongst the bottom feeders.

KKamis | Hornets

1 | an hour ago

I remember that thread a couple of weeks ago, not sure if that’s where you got the idea from too. I absolutely loved the idea. Might need a bit of fine tuning to make work for the NBA but I think it’s great.

joomla00

-1 | 8 hours ago

You could cheat the system by playing no defense, while getting as many opportunities to score as possible. Dantoni would feast

BroiledGoose | Mavericks

7 | 7 hours ago

Points in hockey are 3 for a win, 1 for an OT loss, etc not points in a scoring sense

Once you’re mathematically out of the playoffs your win/loss points go towards draft order standings

Suspicious-Gur6127 | Pacers

1 | 5 hours ago

The biggest issue with that, which I think is one of the better systems out there, wouldn’t the two different conferences lead to different timings to being eliminated from the postseason? Idk if the PWHL already has a mechanism for that or not.

BroiledGoose | Mavericks

3 | 4 hours ago

Yeah every team would have different timings for sure

I mean it’s still a format that can be abused if teams try to lose early to get to the playoff elimination phase faster but at least there’s some period of time where teams are going all out for wins that suck

I think the best method is when teams hate being bad and do everything they can to slowly claw up the table and winning gives the only rewards (soccer style)

Feel like there’s a way to blend that in with a salary cap hybrid method and it would be awesome but likely owners wouldn’t approve of a more volatile system where you could be and for 10 years

Independent_View_438

1 | 5 hours ago

Isnt that just NBA basketball anyway?

dev_vvvvv | Celtics

9 | 13 hours ago

/rj You people watch basketball?

/uj You people watch basketball?

stillmebeaches

3 | 11 hours ago

They already did that it’s called NBA. Basketball is played in Europe.

Party_Acanthaceae166

1 | 6 hours ago

No basketball allowed

fisheggsoup | Jazz

0 | 8 hours ago

Soccer on the court.

Asia and Africa do 🏀 better.

ZealousidealFood9006

2 | 13 hours ago

This is the kind of revolutionary thinking the league office needs right now, just ban the thing that’s causing all the problems in the first place

Pretty sure Adam Silver’s already drafting up the paperwork as we speak, gonna be weird watching teams just stand around for 48 minuts but at least we’ll finally have some competitive parity

Nervous_Box_3495 | Jazz

1 | 13 hours ago

if ppl arent allowed to play basketball then no draft prospects will ever be good enough to tank for. sounds perfect. im on board!

RepresentativeAd1965 | Nuggets

1 | 5 hours ago

You can’t argue against facts

DemonsReturns7 | 76ers

1 | 5 hours ago

You wasted both your time writing this as well as my time reading this 💩

_Tar_Ar_Ais_

1 | 3 hours ago

that cancels out then

No_Caramel_1782 | Wizards

1 | 4 hours ago

This would also fix the number of games played to qualify for awards issue.

A modern day modest proposal.

Comfortable-Web9763 | Timberwolves

1 | 4 hours ago

Maybe the answer is more to turn basketball into a version of sarcastiball instead of shooting on a 10 foot hoop we arrange 10 desks in a classroom setting with 1 ref lecturing about some bullshit and the guys are shooting paper balls into a trashcan, only counts tho if you fall away saying “Kobe!”

Constant_Charge_4528 | Bulls

1 | 4 hours ago

/r/nbacirclejerk outjerked

Sweatytubesock

1 | 3 hours ago

I’m on board.

BlueCollarGoldSwaggr

0 | 6 hours ago

People think it’s no big deal when two NBA teams play each other but they forget that one team always loses, and we can’t keep REWARDING losing by giving one team salaries and fame. No more games = no more platforming losers.

MeatBald | Supersonics

0 | 6 hours ago

Commissioner Nosferatu said that the NBA is a highlight league. So, just have each team do a dunk line and that’s it. The league gets its highlights, the players get paid, and the refs can be brought behind the arena and… ehm… Lennie from “Of Mice and Men”-ed

FarWestEros | HOU

0 | 4 hours ago

How do the mods of this sub let this through while deleting my actual good solution?

SydneyFall | Nuggets

-3 | 7 hours ago

You aren’t as funny as you think you are.

WatchOutIGotYou | San Francisco Warriors

2 | 4 hours ago

You’re correct, they’re funnier

Tanking Solution: Outlaw Basketball