NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks with the media before Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals.
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SAN ANTONIO — The presence in these NBA Finals of Victor Wembanyama, the franchise-rejuvenating, coveted and consensus No. 1 overall pick in 2023 that landed with the San Antonio Spurs, loomed as the backdrop to NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s comments Wednesday about the league’s newly announced lottery reform.
Silver said he was “thrilled, frankly” with changes to the Draft Lottery format that will be in place next season to discourage the sort of rampant tanking that saw as many as 10 franchises trying to lose their way to future success by improving their odds of landing a top pick.
In the new “3-2-1” system, 16 Lottery teams will have their odds flattened by receiving three, two or one lottery balls based on their finishes. The most notable facet is that the teams with the three worst records will lose one ball each, limiting them to two. That is meant to disincentivize wholesale losing in pursuit of the best draft chances.
“Tanking is not a new issue for this league,” Silver said. “Maybe what surprised us all a little bit is how quickly it became acceptable behavior.
“Our fans were speaking loud and clearly about this being unacceptable. Oddly you had situations where in some markets, fans were cheering on their teams and saying, ‘Of course this is the right strategy, you have to be either really good or really bad.’ … [But] at the same time saying, ‘Don’t ask me to pay for this product or watch this product in the meantime.’”
Asked about a team that honestly endures a horrible season due to a significant injury or free-agent departure, the commissioner talked about the other ways it could rebuild. He mentioned the influx of international talent (about one third of the NBA’s players currently) and he reminded the reporters that Draft fundamentals remain in place.
“For the teams with the bottom 10 records, they still will have a 70% chance – I’m blending all their odds together – of getting a Top-10 pick,” Silver said.
After opening remarks about the league history leading up to this Finals – the Knicks were charter members 80 years ago, while the Spurs entered the NBA out of the old ABA 50 year ago — Silver answered questions about a multiple topics.
Among them:
• Silver discussed the traditions of the New York and San Antonio franchises, as evidenced by the many alumni present for these playoffs. The Spurs have kept close former players such as David Robinson, Sean Elliott, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, while the Knicks have team legends such as Patrick Ewing, Walt Frazier, Bernard King and others front and center for their games.
• Expansion still is being studied, with Las Vegas and Seattle as possible destinations for the NBA’s 31st and 32nd member franchises. A determination is targeted for the end of calendar 2026.
• The plans for NBA Europe are on pace to begin play in 2027-28, with a 16-team league that will feature 12 permanent franchises and four spots in which other Eur0pean clubs could earn inclusion via performance.
• The 65-game minimum rule for players to be eligible for major awards and honors is working fine, in Silver’s opinion. The ability for a player to seek an exception (think Cade Cunningham and Luka Dončić this year) with a valid reason for falling just short is enough leeway for now, he said.
• The investigation continues into the Clippers’ and star Kawhi Leonard’s business dealings with a corporate partner of the team, conservation company Aspiration. But Silver said he expects the law firm charged with that work to finish soon. The pressing issue: Did Leonard’s endorsement deal with Aspiration constitute circumvention of the league’s salary cap, with the Clippers complicit? If so, penalties could follow.
“We are close to the point now where I think we need to wrap this up,” Silver said. “The team has to understand what situation they are going to be operating under, and so do the other 29 teams.”
Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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