Recently, NBA commissioner Adam Silver made some very interesting comments about tanking. With Victor Wembanyama looking like the chosen one, numerous teams are expected to play poorly this season in an effort to secure the first overall pick.
Of course, this would be a bad look for the NBA product, and Adam Silver knows that. This led to Silver saying that teams could be relegated if they purposely tank. Relegation is the act of sending a team to a lower league for poor play. In European soccer, this usually leads to a team being promoted up to the big leagues. The NBA does not have the infrastructure for this, which led to many saying this was simply an empty threat.
While speaking on NBA Today, Silver acknowledged that relegation simply isn't possible and would not make sense. Having said that, he does want all of his teams to bring forth a reasonable effort.
“I can’t say I was deadly serious about relegation because you don’t have the same system as European soccer. It would make no sense to send an NBA team to the G-League, or the G-League team up to the NBA,” Silver said.
Victory Wembanyama is an incredible player, and it shouldn't be surprising that all 30 teams would love to have him. As for who will actually get that lottery pick, still remains to be seen.