The NBA’s Board of Governors approved changes to the league’s draft lottery system on Thursday in an effort to prevent teams from tanking.

The “3-2-1 Lottery” plan will go into effect for the 2027 NBA Draft and be tested for three years before being reviewed by the league.  

The new system was designed to flatten the lottery odds and reward play-in and non-playoff teams that continue to win games down the stretch of the regular season.  

Going forward, teams will also not be allowed to pick No. 1 overall in consecutive years or in the top five in three straight years.  

The new plan got its “3-2-1” moniker from the distribution of 37 lottery balls belonging to 16 teams, with each club receiving anywhere from one to three balls.  

The three teams with the worst records in the league will receive two balls each, or a 5.4 per cent chance at receiving the No. 1 overall pick. Teams with the fourth-through-10th-worst records will each receive three balls (8.1%), while the ninth and 10th play-in seeds in each conference will receive two (5.4%), and the losers of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in games will receive one (2.7%). 

Another significant change will be that all 16 picks will be drawn from the balls, not just the top four selections. The teams with the three worst records cannot fall below the 12th pick, whereas they previously were guaranteed a top-six selection.

Breaking: The NBA's Board of Governors has passed new anti-tanking rules that include expanding the draft lottery from 14 to 16 teams, a relegation zone where the bottom three teams get penalized with lessened chances for the No. 1 pick and flattened odds, sources tell… pic.twitter.com/I0Fv1yIAml

— ESPN (@espn) May 28, 2026

During the All-Star break in February, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the problem of tanking was “worse this year than in recent memory." 

Silver has also said that non-competitive behaviour deemed to be tanking in the future could be penalised with reduced lottery odds, not just financial penalties.