Knicks: Is it finally time to abolish the NBA Draft?
By Ken Tavarez
Abolish the draft: Why it is good for the NBA
The first reason it’s good for the NBA is because it would eliminate tanking. The current system doesn’t discourage tanking, it just doesn’t reward it as much as it did before. Think about it, the worst case scenario for a team with the best lottery odds is a top 5 pick. That is still an incentive to lose.
On the other hand, if you eliminated the draft lottery, teams would have to show they are run well enough to warrant consideration from the best prospects, just like the college programs do. No top flight high school player is going to sign up to play for a poorly run college program.
2020 five-star Cade Cunningham breaks down his top 10 schools of Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Memphis, Oklahoma State and Washington. (premium) Full interview: https://t.co/mMphWhGvRd pic.twitter.com/AnUDrdUJJa
— Krysten Peek (@krystenpeek) June 4, 2019
The fact is that unlike college, there are only 30 NBA teams and limited opportunities for starter minutes. Also, NBA players are signed to multi-year deals and teams are subject to the salary cap. You can’t have what happens in college where Duke and Kentucky hoard 8-to-10 of the top players every season.
Think about it, LaMelo Ball or Killian Hayes would not want to play for a team with an established point guard, and that team would face the limitations of the cap in trying to pay them both. That would only leave 5-6 teams vying for their services. Those teams would need to prove that they are the best situation for them. These players are not going to put their careers in the hands of a franchise that can ruin it before it starts.