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Tanking's blowout toll on NBA

Source: nytimes.com

TL;DR

Widespread tanking by nine NBA teams has led to historic blowouts and degraded league quality.
"Notorious Nine" tankers are 17-144 (.106 win rate) vs. playoff teams since All-Star break, losing by 13.9 points on average.
Tanking gifts playoff teams ~25 extra wins, distorts evaluations, and kills fan experience, demanding league fixes.

The story at a glance

John Hollinger's analysis shows how nine tanking teams—the Bulls, Bucks, Kings, Mavericks, Pacers, Grizzlies, Jazz, Nets, and Wizards—have tanked hard since the All-Star break, causing blowouts like five 30-plus point games on one night. This comes amid a deep 2026 draft class driving multi-month tanking by eight-plus teams. Playoff teams benefit from easy wins, but the product suffers.

Key points

Tanking teams' win probability against the 20 playoff/play-in teams dropped from .255 pre-break to .106 post-break, pacing like an 8.7-win season—worse than the 2011-12 Bobcats.
Specific records since break: Wizards 0-20, Nets 1-19, Grizzlies 1-14, Jazz 1-16; average loss margin of 13.9 points.
Blowout nights: April 4 had five 30+ point games and nine double-digit margins (avg. 24+ points); March 29 was the only prior such night in NBA history.
Playoff teams gifted ~25 wins total (1.25 per team); e.g., Hawks 18-2 lately with 11 vs. tankers, Hornets 17-5 with nine.
Intra-tanker games like Wizards-Nets (Nets won by six) mask the awfulness; tankers are 1-39 combined vs. playoff teams recently.
Kings 2-23 vs. playoff teams in last 25 games; Pelicans won six of eight vs. tankers by double figures.

Details and context

Tanking has lasted over two months with eight overt cases plus Bucks not pushing, contrasting fun games like Spurs-Nuggets OT thriller. Pre-break, these teams lost by 8.8 points to playoff foes; now it's doubled, showing deliberate effort.

Blowouts hide in stats—top teams pad records vs. weaklings, complicating offseason reads on true strength. Wizards-Nets played with just two rotation players active, yet stayed close, underscoring how bad they are against real competition.

League faces pressure as status quo distorts everything; past lotteries cut extreme tanking but multi-team races for top picks persist in this loaded draft.

Key quotes

"The average team in this group... is playing as bad as the worst team in history."[[1]](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7175030/2026/04/06/nba-tanking-costs-blowouts/)[[2]](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7151261/2026/03/30/nba-tanking-fixes-rule-changes-playoff-picture)
"Multi-team chases to see who can sink the lowest... it’s badly distorting the league and killing the fan experience."[[1]](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7175030/2026/04/06/nba-tanking-costs-blowouts/)

Why it matters

Tanking erodes competitive balance, turning late-season games into unwatchable routs that hurt attendance and TV appeal across the league. Fans get poor basketball, while playoff teams inflate stats and standings, misleading evaluations for free agency and playoffs. Watch for NBA's anti-tanking votes or fines, though changes risk new issues in a lottery system.