Rumored anti-tanking rules wouldn't have stopped the Jazz's current tankathon

After the Utah Jazz received a fine from the NBA recently for perceived 'tanking' efforts, it looks like the league is taking things to the next level and talking about additional penalties and major changes to the way the lottery and draft are handled in the future.

To that end, there were rumored discussions in January 2026 by the NBA Competition Committee on how to curb the tankathons:

The earliest changes like this could be implemented would likely be for the 2026-27 NBA season, which is when the Jazz plan to be much better and out of the tanking game.

We'll go over three of the rules in detail and how they would impact the Utah Jazz.

Rumored Rule #1 - First Round Pick protections - Top 4 or Top 14 Only

Even if the NBA had put this in place for the 2026 Draft, it would likely have been applied to draft choices traded AFTER a certain date.

The NBA owners would still have to agree to the change, and to get them on board, Adam Silver would likely have to concede that previously agreed-upon protections would be honored up until a certain date.

Rumored Rule #2 - Lottery Odds freeze at the Trade Deadline

This rule would limit the Jazz from free-falling any further over the final 26 games and improving their draft position. But it would also limit teams like Memphis, Dallas, and the LA Clippers.

Freezing the odds would keep those teams from diving beneath the Jazz in the standings, and make them rely on the ping-pong balls instead of more losing in the latter part of the season.

Locking the odds at the NBA Trade Deadline for the current season would have given us the following order. The Jazz would remain at sixth overall in the lottery odds, no matter where their record ended up after 82 games.

Rumored Rule #3 - Not allowing Top four picks in consecutive years

This rule has two functions: not allowing top four picks in back-to-back years, and/or after consecutive bottom-three finishes in the standings.

This rule would not impact the Jazz this year if it were in place, since in 2023, they selected Taylor Hendricks ninth overall; in 2024, Cody Williams at 10th, and last year they selected Ace Bailey at fifth overall. They aren't likely to finish bottom-three in overall record, so they're safe from both functions of the rule.

However, the Washington Wizards would be prohibited from a Top Four pick this year, if they finish in the bottom three in the NBA (they're currently second-worst), and would not have had a top four pick in 2025 either, due to multiple bottom-three finishes (2024, 2025) and having selected Alex Sarr at second overall in 2024.

And New Orleans, due to a bottom-four finish in 2024-25, would be out of the top four of the lottery this year, when they are simply a bad team, not necessarily a tanking one.

What about the rest of the rules?

As for the other rumored rules, basing the lottery odds on a two-year total of a team's record would actually help the Jazz, not hurt them.

Including all play-in teams in the lottery would only increase the odds of a winning team getting the first overall pick, destroying hope for teams that tanked or were simply bad, in the hope of getting a top talent.

Do we really want to see the LA Lakers end up with the top pick as compensation if LeBron retires this summer?

And flattening the lottery odds again? That hasn't worked out since 2019, and the Jazz know it better than anyone, not selecting better than 5th overall, though they have finished in the bottom nine in the NBA since 2022-23.

Bottom line, the Utah Jazz wouldn't be impacted by these rules for what they are doing this season, and if the NBA aims to stop teams like the Jazz from tanking, these rules would fall short.