Among NBA fans, perhaps no word elicits as much anger as “tanking.”
Every NBA executive doesn’t love the practice, either. The process of intentionally losing games to maximize lottery odds will always sit poorly with some folks.
In fact, some teams refuse to do it. Sometimes, it’s a matter of principle. A general manager may strongly feel that teams should put the best product on the floor that they can.
Other times, it’s simply impractical. If a team doesn’t own its own draft capital, they’ve got no incentive to lose – whether it’d be willing to or not.
For the Brooklyn Nets, it seems to be a combination of both factors holding them back.
Could they acquire Jaylen Brown from the Brooklyn Nets instead?