The NBA is considering enacting a number of new measures after the illegal gambling arrests that rocked the league earlier this season. After reports Friday suggesting the NBA would alter injury-reporting rules and betting policies, the league will reportedly continue down that path and consider new ways to prevent tanking, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

The idea of the league adopting new anti-tanking measures was introduced in Friday’s report, but Charania provides specific examples Monday of how the league might look to restrict tanking in the future.

Advertisement

Multiple ideas were introduced by the league, its owners and general managers to reduce tanking, per Charania, some of which include:

• Limiting pick protections to either top four or 14 and higher, which would eliminate the problematic mid-lottery protections.

• No longer allowing a team to draft in the top four two years in a row.

• Locking lottery positions after March 1.

All three proposals are aimed at discouraging teams from deliberately sitting talented players down the stretch in hopes of securing a better draft pick.

It’s unclear whether any — or all — of those proposals will be adopted by the league. And there’s no current timeline on when any of those proposals, if adopted, would go into effect.

The league is looking to crack down on both gambling and tanking following the arrests of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach and player Damon Jones by the FBI in connection with alleged illegal gambling.

Advertisement

Tanking played a role in the FBI’s investigation, as an individual known as “Co-Conspirator 8” reportedly told one of the defendants that the Portland Trail Blazers would intentionally sit some of the team’s best players during a 2023 game against the Chicago Bulls in order to get a better draft pick.

Despite the absence of some of the team’s best players, the Trail Blazers actually won the contest.

A number of other NBA teams have been accused of tanking in recent seasons. The Dallas Mavericks were fined by the NBA in 2023 after holding out some of their best players in a game against the Bulls down the stretch.

In March, the Utah Jazz were fined $100,000 for holding Lauri Markkanen out of games.

Advertisement

Following Friday’s report, the NBA did enact new injury-reporting guidelines. As a result, teams submitted injury reports much earlier than usual Monday, per Charania.

Given the overlap between injury reports and tanking — and the fact that both can be exploited by gamblers — the NBA has plenty of motivation to cut down on both issues. The league already made strides in one area, and will now attack the other.