Adam Silver Is a Tanking Hypocrite
MOC and why he doesn't care about tanking, but he cares when our commissioner punishes us for it but not other teams doing it much more blatantly.
Part of the reason that I’ve always been so shocked by Adam Silver’s role in ousting Sam Hinkie a decade ago is that I’ve generally always viewed him as a very, very passive commissioner. He is generally, with very few exceptions, extremely hands-off when it comes to issues at the forefront of the NBA consciousness, such as load management, the length of the season, and star player movement. The logical conclusion that one would draw from that distinction is that tanking must be the brightest of red lines for him; it prompts him to take action in ways that other issues do not.
And yet, here we are, nine years after Hinkie was pushed out, and the tanking tactics that are deployed on a nightly basis in the NBA are as blatant as they’ve ever been. Perhaps I missed some of the more egregious things that have happened over the past half-decade as the Sixers have been consistently out of the tanking race, but the things teams are doing this year are so far beyond the pale that I truly can’t believe Silver isn’t taking some form of action.
And to be clear, in a theoretical sense, I’m somewhat of an NBA libertarian when it comes to tanking: If teams feel that it’s in their best interest to lose games, they should be allowed to do what's necessary to accomplish their goal. If they need to sit players, trade players, or take any other potentially useful steps they deem appropriate, so be it.
But given that I’ve seen Silver help dismantle the braintrust of the Sixers’ organization for things that were extremely mild by today’s standards, I’m left wanting other teams to experience some form of justice. It simply cannot be the case that 5-7 teams blatantly tank every year, and yet, the only action that Silver has ever taken was an egregiously over-the-top intervention against the Sixers in which he coerced them into ceding power to a hand-picked, generationally awful General Manager. It was incredibly wrong at the time, and it becomes worse and worse as he lets other teams get away with far worse tactics while receiving zero punishment.
Part of the problem is that Silver’s current set of rules for punishing tanking tactics are extremely arbitrary and cannot be used in most situations. The league’s “player participation policy,” implemented at the start of last season, can only be applied to “star” players, meaning those who have made an All-Star or All-NBA team in any of the previous three seasons. This means that teams like the Raptors, who have sat starting point guard Immanuel Quickley multiple times in recent weeks for “rest” despite being fully healthy, or the Jazz, who have done the same for center Walker Kessler, cannot be fined under the player participation policy – simply because neither player has ever made an All-Star team.
The Jazz, of course, were recently fined for sitting Lauri Markkanen, but he is the only player on the roster who could theoretically trigger a fine since none of their other players have made an All-Star team. They could sit the rest of their starting lineup for rest in a deliberate effort to lose a game, and the player participation policy would not apply. Suffice it to say, this policy is inadequate to address tanking, because the majority of tanking teams have either one or zero recent All-Stars.
The Raptors, in particular, are the most egregious offenders to me. They have not only sat Quickley and other healthy players for rest, but have also repeatedly taken out their best players in crunch time of close games over the past few weeks, including Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl – which has directly resulted in them losing multiple close games in recent weeks. Barnes, of course, made the All-Star team last season, so sitting him for rest is a no-go as it could trigger a fine. Their solution is to instead play him 25-30 minutes per game and empty their bench when games are close in the fourth quarter – which, despite being abundantly clear in its pro-losing intention, has received no discipline or warning from the league thus far.
The most perplexing part of all of this is the fact that the Raptors are just five wins behind the Bulls for the final play-in spot, have won six of their last 12, have the easiest remaining schedule in the league, and also have a $175 million payroll. The fact that despite their circumstances, they believe tanking is in their best interest, says a lot about how teams view Silver’s brainchild – the play-in tournament.
Again, I don’t really begrudge the Raptors for doing what’s in the best interest of their franchise. I’m only asking for tanking to be treated equally across the board. The Sixers, despite not playing nearly as dirty as the Raptors, are currently being investigated for what seem to be completely legitimate injuries – including Paul George’s groin (an issue dating back to December) and Tyrese Maxey’s back (an injury he suffered on March 3, after which he spent several minutes writhing in pain on the ground).
The fact that there exists no mechanism for any of these teams to be punished for anything besides sitting All-Star players is insane. The Sixers and Jazz should not be the only teams facing investigations simply because Tyrese Maxey and Lauri Markkanen have made All-Star teams.
As far as I can tell, the only team to be punished for tanking at any point in recent history is the Dallas Mavericks in 2023. At the end of that season, they repeatedly sat and/or limited the minutes of Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Maxi Kleber, Josh Green, and Christian Wood. They did so in an effort to retain their top-10 protected first round pick, which they did end up holding onto. Still, Silver did not punish them at the time, but rather fined them $750K for “conduct detrimental to the league” after Mark Cuban made public comments after the season that seemed to confirm they deliberately tanked. It’s not clear whether the fine would even have been issued had Cuban not made such a public admission.
Perhaps Silver will start investigating and fining teams under the “conduct detrimental to the league” umbrella. But if not, the Sixers are going to have to play as dirty as the rest of these teams are – especially considering that they don’t have full ownership over their pick. If Silver chooses to punish the Sixers while letting other teams run wild, it will be yet more proof that he harbors unfair resentment towards the organization for bringing tanking to the forefront of the public eye during the Hinkie era.
George and Embiid are done for the year due to injury, but when Maxey comes back, the Sixers should limit his minutes severely, just as the Raptors are doing with Barnes and the Jazz are doing with Markkanen. Any veterans playing well who have not made an All-Star team, such as Quentin Grimes, Guerschon Yabusele or Kelly Oubre, should also see regular rest and limited minutes. It’s all pretty ugly and gross, but if other teams are doing it without receiving punishment, the Sixers should do it as well. It’s a matter of game theory.
Overall, it’s a pretty terrible reflection of Silver’s administration that tanking is only getting worse despite it being one of his main pet peeves. Just two years ago, prior to the start of the 2022-23 season, Silver publicly stated that he had “put teams on notice” regarding tanking, and stated that he would pay “particular attention” to tanking that season. He even mentioned the possibility of implementing a relegation system where teams get demoted into a lower league, like the one that exists in European soccer. Naturally, none of those empty threats have made any sort of difference or received any sort of follow-up, and the only time he has punished a team for tanking was when they publicly admitted to doing so.
It speaks to a larger problem of Silver’s inability to understand how to wield power without sweeping legislation – but that’s a discussion for another time. For now, I’m just going to sit back and watch my team do some absolutely shameless shit in order to tank, because – stay with me here – they have to try to keep a pick that they traded away to get off of a terrible contract, which was signed by a subordinate of the executive that Silver hand-picked to run the Sixers the last time he punished them for tanking.
Adam, your effort to stop us from tanking has forced us to do more tanking. Nice league, pal.
Mike O’Connor is the best O’Connor in basketball writing. Previously of The Athletic, you can find Mike on Twitter @MOConnor_NBA. Mike’s writing is brought to you by Body Bio, supplements based on science, focusing on your gut and brain health.
