Mar 28, 2026
3 min read
The NBA's entire idea is to expand the lottery (18 to 22 teams) and equalize the odds.
In an effort to limit loading, Adam Silver and the NBA present NBA owners with three different ideas that will change and expand the NBA lottery.All three will increase the lottery from 18 to 22 groups and make the lottery match.In addition, the plans open the door to heavy penalties for teams that maintain their names or otherwise go to the competition for the championship, up to and including the movement of the team's draft back to the end of the first round.
Here are three ideas presented to the NBA Board, a separate story by ESPN's Shams Charania.
Draw the 1st Lottery
• The lottery has expanded to 18 teams, the 10 teams that miss the postseason, plus all eight teams that are playing.
• All 10 teams that will miss the playoffs have an 8% chance of winning the lottery, with the remaining eight teams having a 5%, 3% or 2% chance depending on where they finish.
• While 18 teams are in the lottery, the lottery will only draw the top four draft spots, and then it will be in descending order of team record (same as now).
Lottery concept 2
• The lottery expanded to 22 teams: 10 teams that missed the postseason, eight teams in the playoffs and four teams that missed the first round of the playoffs.
• The 22 teams will be ranked in order of their record over the past two seasons (WNBA draft).For example, if a team won 20 games this season and 30 last season, for lottery purposes it would have 25 wins.
• Teams earn a minimum winning total, and if they finish below that line, their record improves for lottery purposes.For example, let's say the number is 22 wins, then this season the Pacers/Nets/Wizards, all on pace to go under 22 wins, would improve their records to 22-60 for lottery purposes.The goal is to remove the incentive to lose too many games.
• The top four spots in the draw will be drawn as they are now and will then become a record-breaking series.
Lottery theory 3
• The lottery is expanded to 18 teams, the 10 teams that miss the postseason altogether, plus all eight teams that are in the playoffs.
• The teams with the five worst records will have the same odds – 11% of receiving the top pick – while the lottery odds for the remaining teams will drop down from there.
• There would be two raffles.The first would be according to the top five picks.After that, another lottery would be held for the remaining 13 teams, and if none of the five teams with the worst record made the top five, they could not drop further than 10th.
None of them are formal proposals in the sense that owners would have to vote on one of those three plans, a league source told NBC Sports.Instead, owners may seek to combine different parts of the concepts.For example, the third concept could be changed so that it's basically the same system as it is now, but with equal odds instead of the worst three, with equal odds for the worst five teams, with 18 teams combined, but after the top five are drawn, it could just go in record order.
In addition to these provisions, the group wants to increase the power of the commission to punish a group that is seen using the system to strike.These penalties could include moving the team's selection to the end of the draft (30th in the first round) and a million dollar fine, according to Joe Varden in The Athletic, with a quote from a league source.
"Without a severe penalty, you can still have crazy behavior. You have to have something that is so severe, a team might think twice about taking action. And if a team tries and gets caught, then other teams have to see the penalty and realize it's not worth the effort."
The NBA Board of Governors will vote on the proposals ahead of this year's NBA Draft.
Ending parking has been at the top of Adam Silver's to-do list for years, and he's used his political capital to push officials to agree to some aspect of one of these proposals.Whether they do is another question.
