Everything Adam Silver Said About Tanking, Flopping, Video Review, More Amid 2026 NBA Playoffs

NBA commissioner Adam Silver discussed several topics surrounding the association in the 2026 playoffs during a Wednesday appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.

Silver started by weighing in on the NBA's anti-tanking proposal.

"One thing that has kept me up at night is the enormous amount of rebuilding, tanking that we saw in the league this year," Silver said (0:09 mark). "Just a reminder, of course it's a strategy to win, not to lose. It's just a longer-term strategy to win. But I think where analytics have taken over all sports where a system out of balance, where the incentives for certain teams were frankly to lose to have better odds of getting top draft picks."

"We actually have a board meeting tomorrow to discuss a proposal which will in essence flatten the odds among the non-playoff teams in terms of getting top draft picks, will increase the penalties that the league office has for those teams that may participate in that type of behavior," he added.

Silver mentioned that teams have found ways to be successful without top draft picks.

"Talent is everywhere in this league," Silver said (2:15 mark). "So I think it requires maybe a fresh mindset. Not to say that top draft picks aren't important. I know the analytics people are listening to me right now and saying, 'But of course there's a strong correlation between top draft picks.' I'm not denying that. I'm just saying we have to fix incentives so teams aren't out there with an incentive to be bad. It's the number one issue for our fans right now. Nobody wants to see that."

Silver also gave his thoughts on players flopping to draw fouls.

"It's been a conversation," Silver said (0:07 mark). "I would only say that there's a difference between selling a call, exaggeration, and a true flop which is where you're actually fooling the referees. I think sometimes even as I sit in the stands at games players may be falling down, players may be reacting to a call. But then to me, if they're not fooling the referees, it's like, 'Okay. That's like, the players are taught to sell calls these days.' I mean, can officiating get better? Of course, we're always working on that. Can officials get fooled occasionally? We're always looking that as well. But the officiating is incredible."

He confirmed that video replay technology will be expanded to assist referees in the future as well.

"Those calls will be done by an AI automated system with cameras lined around the court and it'll take all those so-called objective calls out of the hands of the referees," Silver said (0:40 mark). "It'll be instantaneous, it'll be automatic. Just, 'Play on. Let's go, Spurs inbound.' And you'll move on, you won't have to deal with challenges on those calls."

The league's board of governors will vote on a proposed "3-2-1" draft lottery policy on Thursday.

ESPN's Tim Bontemps reported that the board will "all but certainly pass" the anti-tanking reform.

In the 3-2-1 system, the three teams with the worst records in the NBA will only receive two lottery balls while the teams that finish with the fourth to 10th-worst records will get three lottery balls. Squads that finished in ninth and 10th place in the play-in tournament will receive two lottery balls, while one ball will be given to teams that lose the 7-8 matchup in the play-in tournament.

The goal is to have teams look to avoid compiling the worst record in the league instead of attempting to finish at the bottom of the standings in order to increase the possibility for a higher draft pick.

As for replay reviews, the league already expanded replay on out-of-bounds calls ahead of the 2024-25 season and could do so again before the 2026-27 campaign.