Fans Want Adam Silver To Resign After 'Terrible' NBA Draft Proposal

We weren't sure it was possible, but Adam Silver has found a way to lose even more support from the NBA community.

Silver, who has been the NBA's commissioner since 2014, has proven that he's not afraid to change up things. We've already seen him implement the play-in tournament and require players to suit up in at least 65 games in order to be awards eligible.

That being said, Silver's latest idea might be a bit too ambitious. ESPN's Shams Charania is reporting that Silver wants to create a "3-2-1" system for the NBA Draft Lottery. This proposal is supposed to help the league put an end to tanking.

"The '3-2-1 lottery' proposal, named to represent the number of lottery balls per team, would expand the lottery from 14 to 16 teams," Charania wrote. "Teams that do not qualify for the playoffs or play-in tournament but stay out of the relegation zone (spots four through 10) would receive three lottery balls each. Teams with a bottom-three record -- the relegation area -- would have just two lottery balls but have a floor of the 12th pick while the rest of the 13 lottery teams could fall as far as the 16th pick. The 9th and 10th play-in seeds in each conference receive two lottery balls each while the losers of the 7-8 play-in games receive one lottery ball each."

Not only would this proposal change the number of lottery balls each team receives, it would prevent teams from winning the No. 1 pick in back-to-back years. This proposal would also stop teams from winning top-five picks in three consecutive years.

Charania also said this proposal would put an end to teams protecting picks in the 12-15 range.

If the NBA were to approve this proposal, it would include a sunset provision, which means the board of governors would get to vote on it following the 2029 draft.

Would this proposal ruin the NBA?

Judging by the reactions online, NBA fans are hoping the "3-2-1 lottery" proposal doesn't get approved anytime soon.

"So if a team is genuinely terrible and NEED the benefit of a talented player in the draft… they just… stay terrible," one fan replied to Charania's report.

"Making an already bad situation even worse," a second fan said. "Silver needs to go."

"This is such a bad idea Plenty of teams are just flat out poorly run and end up bottom 5 for 3–5 year stretches without even tanking… now you're going to punish them even more by capping their ability to land top picks?" another fan added. "Fixing tanking shouldn't come at the expense of already struggling franchises. Adam Silver is completely missing here, per usual."

"Imagine going 17-65 and getting the 12th pick in the NBA draft Silver because of Adam Silver," a social media user wrote.

Suffice to say, NBA fans won't be campaigning for the "3-2-1" lottery system. In fact, they'll continue to voice their displeasure.

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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 8:02 PM.