The NBA's proposed plan to fix tanking by creating more tankers doesn't make sense

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The NBA's proposed plan to fix tanking by creating more tankers doesn't make sense

The NBA should find another plan to fix tanking.

The NBA's proposed plan to fix tanking by creating more tankers doesn't make sense

The NBA should find another plan to fix tanking.

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The next step in the NBA's plan to address tanking will come Tuesday when league officials host a general managers meeting to continue discussing the different options, according to The Athletic's Sam Amick.

As has been reported for weeks now, the option with the most momentum to move forward when owners take a vote next month is the one that would expand the NBA draft lottery to 18 teams by including all eight play-in qualifiers, giving the bottom-10 teams identical eight percent odds to win the No. 1 pick and splitting the other 20 percent between the remaining teams.

The idea is to disincentivize the league's worst teams from losing on purpose by keeping them in contention for top odds, which this should accomplish. But this could have some serious unintended consequences that should give the NBA pause before rushing to push this through.

Wouldn't giving more teams a shot at the No. 1 pick just create more tankers? And even worse, wouldn't this simply move the tank from the bottom of the league to the middle?

Take this latest season for example. The Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat finished fifth through 10th place in the Eastern Conference, all within three games of each other. Under the current system, each were battling to finish in the top six to lock in a playoff spot and avoid the play-in tournament because they had no good reason to lose. It created a compelling race to end the season.

Under the new proposal, at least a few of those teams (if not all) may have been in a race the opposite direction, attempting to take their chances in the play-in tournament, because it would have meant a shot at the No. 1 pick. It's not like any of them are actual title contenders anyway.

Then, you get to the teams on the line of the play-in tournament and bottom ten, where they would have a shot at the very best lottery odds. Why push for the No. 9 or 10 seed in your conference for an outside shot at the playoffs where you'll lose in the first round anyway when you can potentially land the No. 1 pick?

I'm not a fan of criticizing potential solutions to problems without offering one, so here's mine: get rid of the draft. That's the only true way to fix tanking. But if the draft must stay, and we're accepting that tanking will happen, I have a hard time seeing how the current proposal makes things better.

Nikola Jokic took offense to Jaden McDaniels' late bucket against the Nuggets on Saturday, which caused a big scrum at the end of Game 4. As our guy Robert Zeglinski wrote, it was an embarrassing moment for the three-time MVP, who had an entire game to show some fight:

"The Nuggets and Timberwolves are in a rivalry, and that is what players involved in a rivalry do when they embarrass the opposition. If Jokić didn't want McDaniels taking a meaningless free shot at the rim, he and the rest of the Nuggets should've played better and harder enough to win. Then, it never happens in the first place. If Jokić had played better in the first 99 percent of the game, he wouldn't have gotten this emotional about someone disrespecting him or his teammates.

Instead, Jokić looks like a massive sore loser losing his cool because he knows that he got punked in front of the entire basketball world."

I have to agree with Robert here. If Denver doesn't want to be disrespected in that way, play better. They'll have a chance to do just that facing elimination tonight in Game 5.

Alex Cora was fired as manager of the Red Sox, along with several other coaches, but players on the struggling team weren't happy with the move.

The World Cup display outside Seattle's Lumen Field interestingly included an Italy flag -- but not a flag for Iran.

Another torn Achilles in the NBA playoffs continued one eerie coincidence among the players who have suffered the injury.

An umpire instigated an unnecessary altercation with the Mets' Brett Baty, and mics picked up the whole thing.

This was For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: The NBA's proposed fix for tanking will only create more tankers

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