Adam Silver and the NBA have clearly given up on their short-term effort to fix tanking this season. Honestly, that’s probably for the best, because it was always a losing battle for the league. The only storylines coming out of the bottom of the standings are a few debuts and a whole lot of shameless losing.
So let’s stop pretending and put the tank on full display.
© Wendell Cruz-Imagn ImagesA Combined Losing Effort
If you’re not a play-in team or a playoff team and you’re set to face one of the bottom ten teams in the NBA, you basically have a bye on your calendar.
That’s because the bottom ten teams in the league are currently on a combined 44-game losing streak. Not one of those ten teams won their last game. And since we’re not even counting the losses that happened before this stretch, it means the really long Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls losing skids don’t even factor into that 44.
Updating the wild stat @tomhaberstroh illuminated yesterday: The NBA’s bottom 10 teams have combined to lose their last 44 games in a row.FORTY-FOUR.All of these teams but New Orleans have control of their first-round pick in June. t.co/F1GjIaSXuS
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 5, 2026The Brooklyn Nets currently have the longest streak at nine, with the Indiana Pacers and Utah Jazz tied for second at seven, and the Washington Wizards right behind them with six.
This also means we already have a pretty clear picture of which teams will be in the playoffs, the play-in, and the lottery — making the last month and a half of games feel almost completely irrelevant.
Sorry, New Orleans, but you guys are not making the play-in tournament this season.
It’s a fun stat that also highlights the biggest problem in the NBA: the race to the bottom is just as competitive as the race to the top.
Obviously a lot uglier, but still.
© Dale Zanine-Imagn ImagesThe Start of the Trae Young Era in Washington
With nothing to play for, there is nothing to lose. No pressure to perform, and a reward for sucking. And on that note, the fourth-worst team in the NBA is ready to kick off a new era: the Trae Young Washington Wizards era.
On January 7th, the Atlanta Hawks traded Trae Young to the Washington Wizards in what was essentially a salary dump, ending an eight-year relationship between Young and Atlanta.
BREAKING: The Atlanta Hawks are trading four-time NBA All-Star Trae Young to the Washington Wizards for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/WIf8rhrRFu
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 8, 2026Trae had already been injured and unavailable for most of this season, suiting up for only ten games so far. Young has not yet played a game this calendar year. He last suited up on December 27th, which makes tonight a long-awaited debut for the DMV.
That debut won’t come with the Wizards at full strength, though, as Alex Sarr and Anthony Davis will both be out tonight. So it won’t exactly be a litmus test for how the Wizards might look next season, more just a reason for fans to cheer.
TRAE ON THE WAY: Four-time NBA All-Star Trae Young is set to debut with the Washington Wizards when they host the Utah Jazz tonight at 7pm/et on NBA League Pass. He will play for the first time since Dec. 27, beginning a new chapter after seven-plus seasons with the Atlanta… pic.twitter.com/Hsk0hx4pmh
— NBA (@NBA) March 5, 2026Young could look rusty considering how much time he’s missed, but again, losing is winning in Washington. And realistically, I assume Young’s run with the Wizards this season will be short before they find a reason to shut him down for the rest of the year.
Still, it’s a fun development at the bottom of the NBA. And the game he’ll make his debut in tonight, against the Utah Jazz, might need a little excitement.
© Tim Fuller-Imagn ImagesNBA HOF Coach Larry Brown Weighs In
With 2,338 games coached, a 57% win rate, an NBA championship, and a Hall of Fame résumé, head coach Larry Brown has had his share of highs and lows. Though for a coach who had just six seasons with a record under .500, there were clearly more highs than lows.
He was recently asked about the current state of the NBA, and how he would have dealt with tanking if he were a head coach in the league today.
“Every game, as a coach, I was trying to win,” said Larry. “If I had players back in the day and told them not to play, they would’ve gone off on me.”
“If I had players back in the day, and told them not to play [because we’re tanking], they would’ve gone off on me”Hall of Famer Larry Brown shares his thoughts on tanking in today’s NBA.NBA Today | Wkdays 4–7p ET t.co/U91Jb62Hxo@TermineRadio | @JumpShot8 pic.twitter.com/gpyryLmSFT
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) March 5, 2026He did say he remembers one instance where he intentionally sat players out, because the team had requested a break right before the playoffs. Obviously, that’s not the same thing as what teams are doing right now. And even then, it sounds like he still regrets that decision, as his team lost those games and with it, home-court advantage in the playoffs.
It’s far from the NBA he remembers. But is it any better? It’s hard to say.
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