National Basketball Association

Should the NBA adopt a playoff draft model?

Published Apr. 14, 2022 11:33 a.m. ET

With an opportunity to take sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference, Milwaukee took the floor against Cleveland on Sunday with an unusual starting five.

Milwaukee's traditional starting lineup was stapled to the bench, replaced with end-of-rotation players. Sandro Mamukelashvili anchored the paint and led the team with 28 points. Thanasis Antetokounmpo replaced his brother on the wing, and Jrue Holiday started the game to secure a contract clause and immediately exited.

The Bucks clearly had no interest in winning Sunday's regular-season finale, which they lost 155-133, an understandable decision given the playoff implications. A win would have secured the 2-seed for Milwaukee and a potential matchup against Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets.

Instead, the Bucks' defeat ensured a first-round series against the slumping Chicago Bulls.

Nick Wright addressed this apparent tanking for seeding during the final week of the season on Wednesday's edition of "What's What? with Nick Wright," opting not to criticize the Bucks for exploiting the current system and instead, pushing for the league to allow teams to draft their playoff opponents.

"I'm OK with the Bucks — because they've proven they're not scared of anybody — trying to make their road back to the Finals as quick and easy as possible," Wright said. "I'm also OK with it because the NBA could fix it, but they refuse to. Let teams draft their playoff opponent."

Wright's pitch is simple: Allow the top-three seeds in each conference the opportunity to pick their first-round playoff opponent. This approach, in Wright's eyes, would further reward regular-season performance and shelter top teams from matchups against surging or newly-healthy lower seeds.

The Boston Celtics, for example, are comfortably the best team in the Eastern Conference since New Year's Day and hold the 2-seed entering the playoffs. Despite their success, Boston will take on Brooklyn in the first round, a team the Celtics would certainly not choose to play and who actually have better odds to win the NBA Finals, according to FOXBet.

Similarly, the Phoenix Suns sported the NBA's best record virtually all year long, but now could face a difficult matchup against Kawhi Leonard (if he returns from injury), Paul George and the LA Clippers, pending play-in results.

"What if they announce that Kawhi's coming back?" Wright asked. "You think it's a reward to play the Clippers? Of course not."

For Wright, the draft would also add more intrigue to the final weeks of the regular season. The top-four seeds in the Eastern Conference all finished within two games of each other, and the conference wrapped up with a three-team log jam for second place.

In a playoff system with proper incentives, Wright argues, Sunday could have been one of the most compelling days of basketball in recent memory with a four-team battle for first place. Instead, teams rest players and put little importance on their final games, leading fans into the playoffs on a decrescendo.

"The final day of the regular season was supposed to be awesome," Wright said. "All 30 teams played, they staggered the game so the games that matter would be happening simultaneously. But teams weren't trying to win, they were instead trying to lose, except for in certain circumstances. It was a terrible day. There was almost no interesting basketball."

This playoff draft has gained some traction, according to ESPN's Zach Lowe, with some teams reportedly proposing a structure where the top-three teams can select from the bottom-four playoff squads in their conference.

Because who doesn't love a good draft?