The NBA is Broken
Welcome to Hoop Diaries, let’s fix the NBA and some superlative awards for the week.
Welcome to Hoop Diaries, let’s fix the NBA and some superlative awards for the week
How To Fix The NBA
On February 4th, the Utah Jazz traded for 2-time All-Star and 2023 Defensive Player of the Year, Jaren Jackson Jr.
On February 7th, the Utah Jazz benched their starters, including the aforementioned All-Defense big man but also their other All-Star, Lauri Markkanen, in a close 4th quarter against the Orlando Magic—intentionally throwing the game to improve their odds of obtaining the number one overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Tanking, losing on purpose, hypothetically sucks for the few teams at the bottom of the standings who participate in the practice but by this point in the season, Utah fans would rather have a Top 3 pick playing alongside Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr next season then watch Utah scramble to win a bunch of meaningless March games, knocking them out of contention for one of the top picks AND missing the playoffs anyway.
Bad teams will always exist, especially in a season where an extra territorial like AJ Dybansta is coming out of college.
Utah should lose every game if it helps them land this franchise-altering menace. I love that for them.
If the NBA has a problem, it’s not the existence of bad teams.
It’s not the quality of the basketball; it’s the lack of access to it.
