A proposal to reform the way the NBA draft lottery works failed to pass when voted upon at the NBA board of governors' meeting Wednesday, according to ESPN. The reform was initially proposed to discourage teams, seemingly such as the Philadelphia 76ers, from tanking for a better chance of getting a higher draft pick.
The final vote for the reform was 17-13, falling short of the required 23 votes needed to pass it. The reform failing to pass comes as a surprise; ESPN had reported sources as saying the only teams likely to vote against the chance were Philadelphia and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The proposed reform would have given the league's four worst teams each around an 11 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick, the fifth worst team around a 10 percent chance of winning, and so on.
"I think, in essence, the owners were concerned about unintended consequences," said NBA commissioner Adam Silver, via ESPN. "I think we all recognize we need to find the right balance between creating the appropriate incentives on one hand for teams to, of course, win, and on the other hand allowing for appropriate rebuilding and the draft to work as it should in which the worst performing teams get the highest picks in the draft."
As the lottery draft process stands now, teams are given a higher percentage chance of winning the No. 1 draft pick based on their record. For example, the Milwaukee Bucks had the worst record in the league last season and therefore had a 25 percent chance of winning the first overall pick; Philadelphia, with the second worst record, had a 19.9 percent chance; the Orlando Magic, with the third worst record, had a 15.6 percent chance, and each team after had a lower and lower percent chance.
The current process, however, lately has drawn more criticism because teams are appearing to intentionally flop. One could argue the reform, which was introduced after last season, was in response to 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie seemingly trying to field the least competitive roster he could in order to lose games.
Based on Philadelphia's lack of offseason roster moves, 76ers are seemingly trying to turn in another poor season for a better chance to win the No. 1 draft pick, which would help the team rebuild quicker.
