Adam Silver Says NBA 'Will Never Go Back to Where We Were' with New Anti-Tanking Rules Before Draft

NBA commissioner Adam Silver doesn't envision the league returning to the system it previously had in place before the recent introduction of new anti-tanking rules.

"We'll never go back to where we were," Silver said on ESPN Tuesday night, via Devon Henderson of The Athletic.

"It just caught up with us over the years," he added. "It was a practice by a very few teams over time where they could genuinely say they were rebuilding. Every team in all sports is focused on analytics, and everyone — sort of the guardrails went off — and said there's an advantage if you're not really good, to be really bad, and it doesn't work to be in the middle."

On May 28, the NBA's Board of Governors approved a new "3-2-1" lottery system.

The system contains the expansion of the draft lottery from 14 to 16 teams, flattened odds and a relegation zone in which the bottom 3 teams get penalized with decreased odds for the No. 1 pick.

The system is set to be implemented for the first time ahead of the 2027 NBA draft and will be utilized through at least the 2029 draft before the league will make a decision whether to keep or change it.

It seems as though a return to the old format isn't a strong possibility, however.