Commissioner Adam Silver informed the league’s 30 general managers on Thursday that the NBA plans to change rules for addressing voluntary loss in preparation for next season, sources told ESPN.
Discussions between the league office and stakeholders from the board of directors, competition committee and general managers have intensified in an effort to combat the scourge, including beginning to propose potential concepts for changes in December during its meeting with the owners.
Multiple sources briefed on Thursday’s meeting as well as a competition committee meeting in late January told ESPN that these concepts were discussed in order to combat voluntary loss:
At Thursday’s general managers’ meeting, Silver, the NBA office and 30 executives from the league’s top teams expressed their willingness to continue discussions to preserve the integrity of the sport. Silver was described as “forceful” in his message about his desire to resolve the issue that has grown across the league in recent weeks.
Reportedly, Mike Krzyzewski, the league’s senior advisor for basketball operations, said at Thursday’s meeting that this issue needs to be “addressed” quickly and sensitively and that everyone involved needs to be prepared to respond to actions the league takes in the coming months and year.
At his news conference during All-Star weekend, Silver said voluntary loss has been “worse this year than anything we’ve seen recently” and that he’s considering “every solution possible” to combat the problem.
Earlier Thursday, Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia spoke out on the issue and called the voluntary loss “far worse than any sports betting scandal” in a lengthy post on X.
Last week, the NBA fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000, saying both teams left healthy players on the bench in recent games. The league stressed that actions compromising its integrity would not be tolerated.
