Michael Porter Jr. broke his podcast hiatus last week. When asked about the No. 1 rule change he'd like to see the NBA make, the Brooklyn Nets forward pointed to the league's tanking pandemic.
Porter said on The Emily Austin Show, "They have to do something about this tanking situation. I don't like that teams are intentionally trying to tank just to get a good draft pick." "I think ruining the entire NBA season is no way to go. It's not very ethical for the game. People pay a lot of money to see the best players in the world compete, and you want to see teams compete to their full potential every night, and when teams keep doing the same things they're doing these days, it can be tough... I understand rebuilding teams, but I think there's an ethical way to do it and a non-ethical way to do it. So hopefully that “They can change it, I just feel like the best players are on the field every night.”
After several intense playoff runs with the Denver Nuggets, Porter is experiencing his first rebuild this season.
Michael Porter Jr. urges NBA to fix tanking amid historic draft lottery race
Tanking has been the most talked about problem around the NBA over the past few months. The Nets are one of the third players in the league to have the top pick in the 2026 draft.
The decline in quality of play during the final months of the season has been a topic of discussion for years. However, the issue became acute as the trade deadline began this year.
The outcry from fans, media, and others led Adam Silver and the league office to predict significant rule changes the following season.
"We're going to make substantial changes for next year," Silver told Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, speaking on a panel at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. "I think that's where I'm at – at one extreme, you could completely separate the draft from teams' records. Just make the argument that we could take all 30 teams regardless of the outcome, which would completely discourage tanking. You could win the finals, you know, and get the first pick. But then there's also gradation."
