The recently concluded NBA Draft Lottery has created a lot of surprises, capped off by the New Orleans Pelicans winning the first overall pick. A lot of people believe that this marks the end of tanking, as recent changes in the draft lottery rules do not guarantee the team with the worst record in the previous season the best chance of landing the top pick. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert is happy about what transpired in the lottery and how it has impacted the league moving forward.
We just witnessed the end of tanking 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽. And we should be happy about it.
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) May 15, 2019
Prior to the draft, the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Phoenix Suns had the best odds of landing the top three picks. Instead, they ended up getting the third, fifth, and sixth, respectively.
The Pelicans were projected to get the seventh overall pick, but they ended up getting the first. The Memphis Grizzlies, who were projected to get either the eighth or ninth pick, ended up with the second, while the Los Angeles Lakers, slated to select 11th overall, nabbed the fourth pick. These teams had a little bit of luck in their side, but they also tanked in the middle of last season when they started to realize the playoffs were out of reach.
So is tanking really dead?
Not necessarily; teams will definitely be cautious about purposely losing a ton of games, but if they're hoping to land a prized pick in the following years, they might still consider it as an option. But for now, the outcome of this year's lottery will make teams think twice about going that route
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