That’s How You Tank

The Dallas Mavericks have provided a bad example for the NBA executive offices, who have been attempting to eliminate tanking from their league. But Dallas used tanking of a different variety to build their roster from a fringe playoff team, to Western Conference champs. Dallas was fighting for a playoff spot in the final week of last season, when they decided to throw in the towel. 

They needed to win their final two games, and get some help from others, to earn a playoff berth. But instead of going for it, the Mavs chose to sit their best players instead, securing losses. They felt it was better to hold on to their #12 draft pick, instead of entering the playoffs as one of the last seeds, most likely getting bounced early on. 

But in the words of Herm Edwards, “you play to win the game!” So intentionally passing up on a playoff spot for only the 12th pick seemed competitively distasteful. The Mavs were even fined $750,000 for their actions. It was the second time Dallas had been fined for something like this in the past five years alone.

But now, they can just chalk that up as the cost of doing (good) business. The Mavs used that draft pick to select Dereck Lively II from Duke, who started 42 games for them this season and finished sixth in Rookie of the Year voting. The move seemingly paid off, setting a bad precedent for other teams.

Ignore the potential playoff spot… take the draft pick instead. Even if that pick isn’t even in the top 10. This is not the message Adam Silver wants out there, after Dallas won the Western Conference this year.