I don't think there is any way to completely eliminate tanking given some of these teams started their tank in February. However, I have an idea that I think would reduce tanking, or at the very least make the end of the regular season more interesting.
If the NBA were to change the schedule so that each team plays every other team in their conference 3 times, and every team from the other conference twice, that would result in 72 regular season games (3x14 + 2x15). The last 10 games would be TBD and scheduled as follows:
If the NBA were to change the schedule so that each team plays every other team in their conference 3 times, and every team from the other conference twice, that would result in 72 regular season games (3x14 + 2x15). The last 10 games would be TBD and scheduled as follows:
- The top 6 seeds in a conference after the 72 game schedule would play each other in a home/away round-robin for the last 10 games. The final records of these teams after 82 games would determine playoff seeding. Additionally, these teams would be locked into the top 6 seeds, so a team couldn't fall out of a guaranteed playoff spot by having a bad record against a tough end of season schedule.
- The next 6 seeds in the conference (7-12) would also play a 10 game home/away round-robin schedule, with the final records after 82 games determining the 4 teams that make the play-in tournament in each conference. For the 4 teams across both conferences that don't make the play-in, their record in the final 10 game round-robin would determine their draft position (the best record across those 10 games would draft 7th, the second best record would draft 8th, etc.).
- For the lowest 3 seeds in each conference, they would combine into a 6 team group and play a 10 game home/away round-robin schedule. The team with the best record in the final 10 games would get the 1st overall pick in the draft, the second best record would draft 2nd, etc.