By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Just how good Victor Wembanyama is? NBA commissioner Adam Silver admitted that the league has examined the European model of promotion and relegation to keep teams from tanking for him
As ESPN reported, in Silver’s recent meeting with Suns employees Silver practically admitted that tanking is an issue but “he understands why teams would do it when a “once-in-a-generation player” is about to enter the league”.
For the NBA this is a serious issue, however, there’s not a clear solution and even the idea of possible relegations to the G-League was thrown on the table.
Per the report: “Speaking of a concept in European soccer, Silver told employees that the league has thought about relegation as a potential solution to ensure the worst-performing teams are incentivized to compete. But the commissioner then said relegation would be “destabilizing” to the NBA”.
While in theory that might work, getting NBA teams to play in the G-League will destroy the business model of the NBA, and practically on financial terms, relegations would mean destruction for those teams.
And also the G-League teams that would have been promoted, would end up being punching bags for the rest of the NBA.
“It’s something we have to watch for,” Silver said per the report. “A draft is, in principle, a good system. But I get it, especially when there is a sense that a once-in-a-generation player is coming along like we have this year. Teams are smarter, they are creative, and they respond — we move, they move — so we’re always looking to see whether there’s yet a better system”.