Raptors' Garrett Temple: 'It's Bulls--t' Fans Want Teams to Lose to Help Lottery Odds

At this point on the NBA calendar, a lot of fans begin actively rooting for their teams to lose, knowing that a playoff berth is already out of reach and each defeat could improve the lottery odds that might deliver the next great superstar to their city.

Toronto Raptors veteran and NBPA vice president Garrett Temple, however, isn't a fan of that philosophy.

"It's bulls--t," he told The Athletic's Eric Koreen. "I'm a realist and I can understand the big-picture thinking. But I would never wish for my team to lose a game. I would never wish my players to go out and not compete to win. ... As competitors, it's who we are. I think it's a situation that with the way the rules are, then there is the incentive to (think like) that. And that's, in my opinion, wrong. I think the league in general, (NBA commissioner) Adam (Silver), the NBA, they have a lot to think about in terms of trying to figure out ways to make it more competitive."

This may be a case where everybody's perspective is correct. It's hard to blame NBA fans who want their struggling teams to land a potential franchise-changing player like Cooper Flagg, and are fine with tanking to accomplish that goal. It's hard to blame executives who see things similarly and, within the rules, find creative ways to stockpile losses as disappointing seasons near their end.

But at the same time, who would want coaches or players who actively want to lose, even when a season is lost?

The worst place to be in the NBA is somewhere in the middle, with no real shot at competing for a championship and no real shot at landing a potential star in the draft. The Play-In Tournament has incentivized more teams to compete for the playoffs, but eventually hovering around .500 and getting quickly eliminated from the postseason is a recipe for fan apathy.

Superstars in the NBA have the ability to singlehandedly turn losing franchises into contenders, a level of impact that individual players rarely have in other sports (outside of perhaps quarterbacks in football). LeBron James literally bolstered Cleveland's economy during his time with the Cavaliers. And that makes tanking a particularly viable approach to long-term team building, no matter how unpopular the practice may be in certain circles.