The so-called “Wheel” and other zany Draft ideas will have to wait until the NBA figures out what to do with all that new TV rights money, according to commissioner Adam Silver.
Team owners aren’t ready to overhaul the Lottery system just yet, so don’t expect tanking to go anywhere.
Silver says the issue won’t be fully addressed for at least a couple of more years.
Per the Boston Globe:
The current system gives the highest probability of landing the top overall pick to the team with the league’s worst record. There have been complaints over the past few seasons about teams, such as the Philadelphia 76ers, tanking games to improve their chances of a higher lottery pick. […] There have been several ideas for changing the lottery system, such as returning to the previous system of giving all 14 non-playoff teams equal chances of winning the top pick. Celtics assistant general manager Mike Zarren suggested a “wheel” concept, in which all 30 teams occupy each of the 30 draft slots over a 30-year period to create competitive balance.
“There’s a recognition that the lottery is only one aspect of how to build a team,” Silver said following Thursday’s Hall of Fame Family Reunion dinner. “And given the inflow of the new television money next season and the large increase in the cap, ultimately the owners concluded that while we think we need to take a fresh look at the lottery system, let’s wait and look at the system holistically once the new money comes in. […] Because there’s always unintended consequences and at least everyone understands the rules of the road right now. I think we need to be deliberate about any changes we make, so we’ll turn back to it, but we’re going to leave things as is for now.”
When asked how long it will be before the lottery system is revisited, Silver said: “It will be a couple of years. We will have this very significant increase in the cap next year and I think we’ll have a sense then of how our teams react and what sort player movement we see.”
