With a deep and talented draft class on the horizon, tanking no doubt will become a big issue again during the second half the NBA season.
With college stars like Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Julius Randle possibly entering the 2014 draft, teams with losing records may start dumping veteran talent and tanking games to better position themselves for a high lottery pick.
Such moves likely will infuriate fans and bring the league under considerable scrutiny.
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Grantland.com may have uncovered a potential solution. The website reports that it has obtained a copy of a proposal that would eliminate the draft lottery and replace it with a 30-year wheel system in which each team would pick in each first-round slot only once over a 30-year period.
According to Grantland, the proposal was submitted by a team official and has gained the support of some high-level NBA officials. The site says that the league may float the proposal to team owners in 2014.
Under the proposal, each team would pick in a predetermined draft slot each year, eliminating the practice of protecting draft picks. Each team would be guaranteed one top-six pick every five seasons and at least one top-12 pick every four years.
The team with the top pick in the first year would pick first, 30th, 19th, 18th, seventh and sixth over the first six seasons.