Completely eliminate the draft! Stan Van Gundy suggests the NBA solve tanking by making all rookies free agents

On February 19th Beijing time, the NBA is clearly displeased with teams tanking for draft picks, and Stan Van Gundy believes the solution is to abolish the draft altogether.

Shortly before the NBA All-Star Weekend, the league fined the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers $500,000 and $100,000 respectively for resting players who appeared healthy. Moreover, it’s not just these two teams: the Brooklyn Nets, Sacramento Kings, and Washington Wizards have also clearly shown through their actions that they are tanking to improve their draft position.

How should the NBA address the tanking problem? Stan Van Gundy proposed a radical draft reform during his appearance on the "Golic & Golic" show.

“What we need to do is remove any incentive to lose,” Van Gundy said. “I think we always blame these teams for lacking professionalism or something like that. But think about it, everyone is just doing what’s best for their own team. If you’re the Jazz or the Kings, how do you get a superstar? From their perspective, it’s through the draft—they want to maximize their chances. Although we don’t like the outcome of tanking, it’s hard to blame these teams.”

“I would simply get rid of the draft. No draft. The salary cap stays. If you want to pay a college graduate like Flag $45 million a year, go ahead; he’s a free agent. All rookies would be free agents. Without a draft, there’s no motivation to tank, none at all.”

The initial concern from outsiders is how top players would be willing to join small market or poor-performing teams. Without a draft lottery, how would teams like the Charlotte Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, or Kings acquire stars?

Van Gundy’s solution is to keep the team salary cap but remove the individual player max salary limit. “If you want to give 90% of the salary cap to one player, that’s fine,” Van Gundy explained. “If you remove the max salary rule, the top 30 players in the league would be spread out among all teams.”

With a salary cap but the possibility for superstars to earn over $100 million annually, they would have to consider average teams that can offer them the highest paycheck.

Another question is whether the NBA is willing to give up the draft event, which has become an annual spectacle. Van Gundy’s idea to completely cancel the draft might be a bit too extreme.

American media suggests a simpler and more reasonable plan might be to keep the draft but give all non-playoff teams equal or similar chances at the top pick, thereby removing the incentive to tank.