Sport Articles

2025 April 13th

By Josh

Shows a picture of teams tanking for Cooper Flagg, a prospect with potential (https://www.reddit.com/r/NBATalk/comments/1jaemti/how_should_the_nba_fix_its_tanking_problem_in_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=post_embed&utm_term=1&utm_content=1)

The tanking system, often referring to sports teams deliberately losing. This is to get higher draft picks for the upcoming draft. Would this system be a harm toward sportsmanship or a tactical strategy? This system can be seen in American sports teams, such as for the NBA, NFL, and MLS where franchise systems are used. Although tanking could affect sportsmanship negatively, causing lower competition within the league, however in the American sport market tanking could bring extremely successful results, changing the franchise history. Then can MLS benefit from the tanking system or would it be negative?

The NBA, where the league is already developed and has enthusiastic supporters, the tanking is regarded as a tactical strategy. The tanking could be seen every year from some teams, and this can bring successful results for most of the case. In the 1996-1997 season, the San Antonio Spurs had tanked for Tim Duncan for the 1997 NBA draft. He was believed to have potential top tier players for the league. It is believed that the Spurs had tanked. Although they had David Robinson, the superstar for the team, injured, only playing 6 games out of 82. Although there is no clear evidence the team had intentionally not played him for tanking, it is speculated that this is true. As their star player played less, they were able to lose more leading them to have the first overall pick for the 97-98 draft, picking Tim Duncan who eventually made it to the Hall of Fame. Although There are successes like this, there are failures of tanking such as the Sacramento Kings in the NBA tanking for draft picks to get young prospects for their future, but picking a player that did not change significantly. Such as when the Kings picked Marvin Bagley III for the 2nd pick in the 2018 draft over Luka Doncic, a potential Hall of Famer. 

In the MLS, the situation is different. Regarding the characteristic of soccer, tanking would act to be an unsportsmanlike behavior instead of a tactical strategy. This is because the sport itself is more of a strategically important sport instead of a one star player system. For example, in basketball one star player can change the team such as Michael Jordan making the Bulls as a playoff contender from a bottom team. But in soccer this is not possible. Such as when Zlatan signed with LA Galaxy, they did not make the playoffs constantly although Zlantan scored 50+ goals. Also, the prospects from the MLS that enter the MLS draft do not have such success. Although there are cases with success, it does not occur often. Such as the recent picks of Tyrese Spicer, Hamady Diop, and Ben Bender, who were the last three number one picks of the MLS draft did not have such success. While in the NBA, all three last number one picks, Zaccahrie Risacher, Victor Wembanyama, and Paolo Banchero all have succeeded for their teams, and especially Wembanyama who became one of the players that represents the league.

So the tanking system, which is frequently used to describe how sports clubs intentionally lose in order to obtain better draft selections in the next round and alter the team’s destiny. American sports teams, including those in the NBA, NFL, and MLS, use tanking as a strategic act. Tanking under certain circumstances could change the franchise’s history and provide incredibly profitable outcomes. However from what we witnessed, tanking is not always successful. Such as in the MLS, tanking is more considered as an unsportsmanlike act instead of a strategy. As much as possible, it would be beneficial to have a solution toward this act.