Isaac
Years ago

Magic Johnson: "I hope the Lakers lose every game"

Johnson, speaking at a promotional event Tuesday in New York City, said he wants his former team to lose enough games to contend for a high lottery pick in next year's NBA draft.

"I hope the Lakers lose every game," Johnson said, according to Newsday. "Because if you're going to lose, lose. I'm serious."

Full story

Yet another signal for lottery and draft reform.

@haralabob was tweeting the other day about how he'd address it all:

No max Salaries, No Draft, a Hard Cap.

And an age limit of 18.

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HoldenV8
Years ago

When someone of Magic's standing starts saying things like this you know its time to start looking at changing things.

Losing (tanking?) games just to get higher draft pics is an insult to the fans who pay their hard earned to support the teams.

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Speed44
Years ago

This topic always interests me, as I love the draft. There have been so many ideas on how to stop rewarding tanking, and there are imperfections with all of them. But I think we really need to try something, even if it is a little radical or "unfair".

Something like, a team is ineligible for the top 3 (or top 5, even?) picks, if they don't win at least 25% of their games.

It might be worth a try for one season. I'm pretty sure Philadelphia wouldn't be doing what they are doing if they knew they HAD to win 21 games before even hoping for the number 1 pick.

Just an idea, and I know it may hinder truly bad teams, but we are going for an end-result here of not having teams who win less than a quarter of their games.

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Wildcat Fan
Years ago

Its a tough one to fix and as you mentioned the truly bad teams would miss out and make them very unlucky in that case. I always thought the lottery aspect of the draft eliminated blatant tanking (because finishing last doesn't guarantee you the number 1 pick) but it doesn't look like it really matters anymore.

I hate the tanking going on in the NBA right now especially in New York and LA. (New York haven't stated it yet, but its getting close to tank time there too)

Seems to be worse and more deliberate than ever before. I wonder if the Lakers or Knicks - two massive clubs with a huge tourist following - care about the appeal of the NBA for visitors of LA or NY who have been waiting their whole life to see an NBA game. I guess as long as they're still selling out their home games then they wouldn't care about how they perform. Heck, as long as their starting 5 intros are awesome, who cares about the game right?

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Speed44
Years ago

In the idea above, the worst team would still be guaranteed 4th (or 6th) pick. So they would still get a "high" pick. I understand though that that could be the difference between a LeBron and a Aaron Gordon.

NY and LA are at least giving their fans a "star" to watch while they tank. Philly are loading their team with D-Leaguers, and are not even trying to hide it. A once proud and successful franchise, lowering themselves to 3 or 4 consecutive tanking years, is perverse.

While I don't mind the "no max salaries, no draft and a hard cap" suggestion, there is no way the NBA is giving up the draft. It's a big deal for the League. I'd also increase the age limit to 20, though it's not that important to me.

Also, if there is no draft, then that means no more rookie scale contracts? That'd be pretty interesting stuff, watching teams bidding for a Wiggins.

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Hoops

Magic Johnson: "I hope the Lakers lose every game"

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