Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The NBA implemented significant draft lottery reforms aimed at curbing tanking behaviors this offseason.
- These changes are reshaping team strategies and reviving interest in certain high-salary players, like Trae Young, who can boost regular-season performance.
- One prominent offensive talent is now seen as a potential floor-raiser for teams aiming to become fringe playoff contenders.
One of the biggest storylines of the 2025-26 NBA season is how bad tanking has gotten, and how much the league needs to find a solution to the problem that is killing their regular season product.
Adam Silver listened to our complaints, and as a result, he and the league passed some draft lottery reform at the end of May, which will become active as early as next season.
As with all the technical elements of the league, there is a lot to unpack with these changes. But for the sake of this article, all you need to know is that the league expanded the lottery from 14 to 16 teams, flatted lottery odds, and created a relegation zone that penalizes the bottom three teams in the league.
Any time any governing body implements a new set of rules, there are tons of downstream consequences. In this instance, one of those trickle down effects involves a certain four-time All-Star guard.
Trae Young's trade value has been revitalized
On Tuesday, NBA Insider Jake Fischer reported that interest in trading for Trae Young has spiked since the anti-tanking reform was put into place.
"There is now some renewed interest in Trae Young, compared to where things were in February, where there’s not much interest," Fischer said.
A few months ago, no one really wanted to get into the Young business, forcing the Atlanta Hawks to trade one of their most accomplished players in franchise history for two veterans (CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert) and no draft capital.
The reason for this was simple. Young is a very good offensive player, but he's too ball dominant to pair with a lot of other high-level players, and Young's defensive limitations were so steep that trying to configure the perfect offensive personnel around him didn't even seem worth the headache.
However, now, the way the NBA Draft Lottery is set up incentives teams going all-out in the regular season, regardless if they have a real chance of competing for the championship or not.
This increase the value of floor-raisers like Young. Given how much of the salary cap Young's current yearly income occupies (29.7% next season), it is nearly impossible to win a true contender with him on your roster. But if your goal is to just be a fringe playoff team that people can get excited about, Young may be your guy.
Outside of his short stint with the Washington Wizards last year, Young's teams have never been lower than the 76th percentile in offensive rating in his minutes since 2020 (per Cleaning the Glass). Young's ability to generate paint touches and find open shooters/cutters can give any offense a solid backbone. So, if you can surround him with defensive-first players, Young can uplift your offense enough to keep your team respectable.
I'm sure that there will be a handful of unintended negative consequences as a result of the changes the league made to the draft lottery. But the fact that we are going to see teams go after flawed floor-raisers like Young is a welcome change that I for one am excited to see play out.
For diehards like you and I, the NBA always rocks. But thanks to these changes, it seems like the 2026-27 regular season is going to rock a little more than usual.
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