Overview
- The NBA enacted broad anti-tanking and lottery reforms in the summer designed to remove incentives to lose and push standings toward the middle.
- Early results through November show the opposite of the goal with a deeper trough of very bad teams, including six teams with only one win and worse negative net ratings than a year ago.
- Losses have been more lopsided this season with an uptick in 15- and 20-point blowouts, evidence that the bottom teams are suffering larger margins of defeat.
- Rebuild outcomes are uneven: the Grizzlies (6-2) and Wizards (4-4) have jumped forward while the Jazz, Bulls, Nets and Kings remain stuck or have regressed.
- Observers caution the sample is small and point to injuries, coaching changes, trades and whether teams control their draft picks as major confounders that will shape how effective the reforms prove over a full season.