Sources said the league office has held several key meetings with its board of governors, competition committee and 30 general managers over the past few weeks to focus on this new proposal ahead of the owners’ final vote on May 28. According to those sources, there may be minor amendments to the proposal, but the key points of the outline have the majority support of the teams.
The “3-2-1 Lottery” proposal, named to represent the number of lottery balls per team, would expand the lottery from 14 to 16 teams. Teams that do not qualify for the playoffs or play-in tournament but remain outside the relegation zone (places four through 10) will each receive three lottery balls. The teams with the bottom-three records – the relegation zone – will have only two lottery balls, but a floor of the No. 12 pick, and the remaining 13 lottery teams can drop down to the No. 16 pick.
The No. 9 and 10 play-in seeds in each conference receive two lottery balls each, and the losers of the 7–8 play-in games receive one lottery ball each. Previously, odds were drawn only for the teams with the bottom four records in the league, while the other 10 lottery teams were ordered based on inverse records. Under this proposal all 16 teams will be in the draw.
Furthermore, no team will be able to win the top pick in consecutive years or be able to win three top-five picks in a row. Teams also won’t be able to protect picks in the 12 to 15 slots going forward.
The proposal includes a sunset provision so that the new system expires after the 2029 draft and allows the Board of Governors to continue the system or transition to a new one. The NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement runs through the 2029–2030 season.
The league would also have expanded disciplinary authority to regulate tanking and would have the option to reduce lottery odds and/or modify draft positions for teams under the proposal.
All involved parties have brainstormed and developed several concepts over the past few months before finding this 16-team reform, with high-ranking NBA officials saying they believe losing would be discouraged when drawing lottery balls for all 16 qualifying teams. It also encourages winning, especially during the second half of the season, as teams near the bottom three will want to climb out of the relegation zone, while teams above them work to win to stay out of the relegation zone.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver made it clear in March that fixing tanking was his top priority and that there would be fundamental changes to the league’s draft system to prevent it from progressing. The issue of tanking has been magnified this season due to the loaded 2026 draft class and, as Silver pointed out, the incentive pushes teams to do whatever they can to maximize their chances of getting lucky in the NBA draft lottery every spring.
“I think ultimately it’s a decision that needs to be made at the ownership level,” Silver said after a two-day NBA Board of Governors meeting in March. “It has business implications, basketball implications, integrity implications for the league.
“So, this is something we take very seriously, and we’re going to fix it. Full stop.”
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