Adam Silver Is Out Here Practically Begging Teams To Not Tank For Victor Wembanyama

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Adam, come on. You cannot seriously believe the words that are coming out of your mouth. You don't want teams to tank this year? I'm sorry, did you not see what went on the other night?

the second that the first Wembanyama clip hit the internet years ago everyone knew the deal. Once he became Draft eligible we were going to see a historic tanking attempt by the bottom of the league. You know what though? It's not just him! There are teams that I imagine are going to be more than willing to tank for Scoot too. For a commissioner that doesn't want the teams in his league to tank he sure has no problem promoting these two prospects which is a little confusing. I'm also not even sure Adam's quote makes a lick of sense either. Teams want to draft Wembanyama by winning the lottery so they should all compete hard next season?? Uhhhh, no man. It's the opposite. Teams like the Spurs, Jazz, Thunder, Pacers etc are going to do everything they can to be NOT competitive. When you have franchise altering prospects on the horizon and you are a team that is rebuilding, that's what you do. In the NBA you're either trying to contend or you're trying to tank. Being stuck in the middle or "NBA Purgatory" is the kiss of death. It's what every team tries to avoid.

The league thought that flattening out the odds at the top of the lottery might help solve tanking, and we can say confidently that it has made no difference whatsoever. Teams are just as comfortable making the Top 3 nowadays. Just like with tampering, there's nothing Adam Silver or the league can do to stop tanking. Outside of completely redoing how they do the Draft/Lottery, tanking will always exist, especially in years when you have guys like Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson about to enter the Draft. I don't know why Silver tries to pretend like this isn't happening when we can all see what teams are doing. I know it's his job to make it seem like the league is going to be competitive and everyone wants to win and all that shit, but teams are always going to tank until the rules are changed. That's just the reality.

Remember when the league was going to crack down on load management? How's that going? Does that problem seem solved or even like it's getting better? If anything, it's going in the opposite direction. The same is true with tanking. As these prospects get better and better, teams are going to punt on their seasons in an effort to bring them in, especially the small market ones that aren't exactly a top free agent destination. 

How many blue chip players are choosing to go to the Spurs? None of them. That's why if teams like the Spurs want to get good again they need to do it through the Draft. If you're going to build through the Draft, you want as many high lottery picks as possible. To do that, you need to lose. It's really that simple.