The Brooklyn Nets are still in the midst of their rebuild as they hope to get back to competing for a playoff spot sooner than later after what has happened over the past few years. Brooklyn has been doing what most rebuilding teams do by hoping that the draft can speed up the process, but it seems like the NBA is focused on shaking up how teams rebuild.
“But there is also a rule stating that no team can land first in two consecutive drafts, or in the top five in three consecutive drafts,” Kevin O’Connor wrote for Yahoo! Sports when discussing the NBA’s new “3-2-1” anti-tanking reform that is expected to pass when the league’s Board of Governors meet on May 28. Basically, the new measure ensures that teams are less likely to get higher picks if they are among the worst, but the league is also trying to limit how long teams can rebuild.
“Front offices have been wondering: Does the streak attach to the team holding the pick on lottery night or to the original team whose record is attached to the pick,” O’Connor continued. “The streak attaches to the original team, according to league sources. In other words, if Team A has Team B’s pick in the 2027 draft as a result of a trade and that Team B pick lands first, then Team B’s own pick in 2028 would not be eligible to land first, whether it’s retained by Team B or owned by a different team.”
While the proposed Lottery reform is supposed to begin with the 2027 NBA Draft, O’Connor writes that the league is expected to look at the 2025 and 2026 to retroactively apply these new conditions. Even if this new detail within the anti-tanking measure, the Washington Wizards, for example, wouldn’t be able to have the No. 1 pick in 2027, even if that outcome could happen through the Lottery.
As far as the Nets are concerned, the measures being applied to teams getting the No. 1 pick in consecutive years or getting top-5 picks in three straight years won’t change anything for them moving forward as they had the No. 8 pick last year and the No. 6 pick this year. However, with the way that the NBA is trying to curb tanking, Brooklyn may find it less useful to continue the rebuild if it’s less likely to benefit them than in previous years.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets rebuild could be affected by detail in NBA’s anti-tanking reform
Reporting by Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
