$8.6 Billion Worth Mat Ishbia Compares Tanking Teams to Illegal Gamblers as Adam Silver Changes Draft Rules

Mat Ishbia demanded that Adam Silver and the NBA top brass find out ways to curb tanking amongst bottom-ranked teams.

$8.6 Billion Worth Mat Ishbia Compares Tanking Teams to Illegal Gamblers as Adam Silver Changes Draft Rules

Mat Ishbia and Adam Silver (Image via FirstSportz)

In Short
  • Mat Ishbia criticizes tanking teams, equating their behavior to illegal gambling.
  • Adam Silver announces new anti-tanking measures to be implemented in the 2026-27 season.
  • NBA All-Star weekend draws 46 million viewers, the highest in 24 years.

When Mat Ishbia joined Adam Silver at the ownership table after purchasing the Phoenix Suns, he set forth a clear vision, which was to be competitive every single year and fight for championships.

That goal saw him burn through the team’s core by bringing in Kevin Durant and then Bradley Beal, only to dismantle the project after three years of disappointing results.

When everyone expected the Suns to tank and hoard up on draft picks, just like what they acquired by trading the “Slim Reaper” to the Houston Rockets, Ishbia’s team ended up surprising everyone.

The team is currently knocking on the doors of a playoff spot, despite not fielding their second-best scorer, Jalen Green, for much of the season.

Having knocked out some Western Conference heavyweights, the owner, worth $8.6 billion, has maintained his stance of fielding a competitive team. That is why he takes exception to those who are not true to the way a team should behave.

This is ridiculous! Tanking is losing behavior done by losers… If you are a bad team, you get a good pick. That makes sense. But purposely shutting down players and purposely losing games is a disgrace and impacts the integrity of whole league. This is much worse than any prop bet scandal.

Mat Ishbia wrote on X

This was his comment on an article on Yahoo Sports, which ranked tanking teams. Mat Ishbia felt those teams were not doing right by the NBA, and that Adam Silver and his executives had to make ‘massive changes’ to curb this habit.

Adam Silver’s NBA reveals plans to curb tanking after Mat Ishbia’s rant

Not long after Mat Ishbia went public with his frustrations involving tanking teams, ESPN’s lead insider, Shams Charania, revealed that Adam Silver had a meeting with the GMs of all 30 teams on Thursday.

Utah Jazz have been tanking despite having good players
Utah Jazz have been tanking despite having good players (Image via Ballislife/X)

During the meeting, the commissioner informed them that the league will implement anti-tanking methods starting from the 2026-27 season.

•First-round picks can be protected only top-4 or top-14+
•Lottery odds freeze at the trade deadline or a later date
•No longer allowing a team to pick top 4 in consecutive years and/or after consecutive bottom-3 finishes
•Teams can’t pick top-4 the year after making conference finals
•Lottery odds allocated based on two-year records
•Lottery extended to include all play-in teams •Flatten odds for all lottery teams

Shams Charania wrote on X

These are the methods the NBA has in mind as it looks to combat tanking. It seems they had to make this decision after noticing that no amount of fines was going to curb it.

If implemented, expect teams to still find loopholes and unique methods to tank, but also expect Adam Silver and his executives to come down hard on them, or even counter those moves with additional rules.

Adam Silver’s NBA garners most All-Star views in 24 years

After battling through criticism from fans and, particularly, the media about a decline in the way the game is played, Adam Silver’s NBA seems to be coming back in form.

This All-Star game this past Sunday managed to draw a 15-year-high 8.8 million views on NBC. Now, they have further news about the weekend as a whole.

More than 46 million people in the U.S. watched NBA All-Star weekend across NBC platforms and ESPN, the most in 24 years and more than triple last season.

NBA Communications revealed

This means that in one season, with the likes of NBC leading the charge, the league has managed to draw more fans than it did in nearly two-and-a-half decades.

This could be a clear slap on Charles Barkley, his Inside the NBA crew, and TNT’s faces, as many believe their extreme criticisms were responsible for the lack of fan interest.

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