In a bold move, Suns owner Matt Ishbia took to social media to voice his strong disapproval of tanking in the NBA. Ishbia didn't hold back, calling the practice embarrassing, corrosive, and damaging to the league's integrity. He made it clear that he sees no strategic value in tanking, instead labeling it as detrimental behavior.
“This is ridiculous,” Ishbia stated. “Tanking is losing behavior done by losers. Purposely losing is something nobody should want to be associated with.”
He made a distinction between simply being a struggling team and actively trying to lose games. According to Ishbia, if a team is genuinely bad, earning a high draft pick is a natural consequence. However, deliberately sidelining players and throwing games is unacceptable.
Ishbia didn't stop there. He likened tanking to betting scandals, suggesting that it undermines the spirit of competition and unfairly impacts fans who invest in tickets, as well as teams genuinely competing for playoff spots.
While he didn't propose a specific solution, Ishbia's comments certainly shone a spotlight on the issue.
Tanking isn't a new phenomenon, but this season it's become more glaring. With many teams focusing on draft positioning early in the season, the issue is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has made efforts to address tanking, implementing measures like flattened lottery odds and the Play-In tournament. These have made some impact, but haven't fully resolved the issue.
Despite the challenges, Ishbia expressed confidence in Silver's leadership to tackle the problem head-on. “Awful behavior that Adam Silver and the NBA will need to stop with massive changes,” he wrote. “And I have complete confidence that with his leadership, he will fix it.”