Sport Thoughts

The 2024-2025 NBA Season is down to the final month of regular season play. League wide tanking has risen over the last few weeks entering the month of March. Tanking NBA teams including the Utah Jazz, Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers are sitting starters in and out of the starting lineup on a frequent basis. The inflated injury reports haven gone as far as heavy fines and team investigations. The Utah Jazz were recently fined 100 thousand dollars after sitting former All Star Lauri Markkanen against the Washington Wizards. It has become more and more clear who the tanking teams are and where they stand in terms of draft lottery odds. These tanking teams focusing on draft position include the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets, Philadalphia 76ers, Charlette Hornets, Washington Wizards, New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz. It is clear that NBA commissioner Adam Silver wants to stop league wide tanking. Changing the draft lottery odds would be a great starting point. It is widely known ...

The half way point has been reached during the 2024-2025 NBA season. The Philidelphia 76ers are without question the biggest disappointment of the 2024-2025 NBA Season. Injuries to star player Joell Embiid and the team’s overall underperformance has led the Sixers finishing the half way point with a 15-26 losing record. They currently sit 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings with no signs of winning improvement. Stars Joell Embiid and Paul George have missed several games during the Sixer’s losing stretch of games. The big three of Joell Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey have played just 10 total games together out of the 41 games played. The lack of availability from Embiid, Maxey and George has put a damper in the Sixers championship aspirations. It begs the question how the Sixers front office will manage the team’s trade deadline during the second half of the season. The NBA trade deadline is less than 3 weeks away and the Sixers remaining schedule does not get any eas...

Today begins the early stages of trade season in the NBA. Players who signed during the 2024 offseason are now eligable for trades. Several contendering NBA teams are now in the mix for trade upgrades to their playoff caliber rosters. The question becomes why would a team sell players with over 50 games remaining in the 2024-2025 season. The answer is simple: to tank. The NBA 2025 draft lottery is 5 months away but that wont stop many NBA general managers from selling high or low. Rebuilding NBA teams have a chance to impact their draft lottery odds by selling as soon as possible. Selling early often leads to impacting the number of game losses. For example, the Golden State Warriors traded multiple future second round picks and injured guard Deanthony Melton for Brooklyn Nets point guard Dennis Schroder. The Nets made this trade to impact their season’s tank, while gaining assets for the future. They are now essentialy waving the white flag and no longer foccusing on winning games. Ta...

A new NBA season often allows teams to pick a direction as the season begins. The directions are usually contention or rebuilding. The rebuilding direction often leads to many losses. The losses for rebuilding teams hurt in the standings but often boost draft lottery odds. The odds to win the NBA lottery also leads to league wide tanking. It is becoming more noticable who the lottery teams could potentially be after a 20 game sample size. As previously mentioned, the teams with the worst records are likely to draft high in the lottery. As of early December, the worst teams in the NBA include the Washington Wizards, New Orleans Pelicans, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors. These five teams are at least 9 or more games under .500. There are also teams rumored to entee to the draft lottery sweepstakes. Teams such as the Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, and Portland Trail Blazers are also expected to sell off players leading into the NBA trade deadline. Tanking could be a poten...

It is over two weeks since the MLB trade deadline. There were buyers and sellers at the deadline. The New York Mets were the biggest seller at the trade deadline. The Mets made moves that esentially punted their 2023 season. The Mets are currently 5-11 since the August 1st trade deadline, the worst post deadline record of all 30 MLB teams. The Mets called up several minor league players after moving on from Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, David Robertson, Mark Canha and Tommy Pham. The constant losing has been become atrocious with fans beginning to speculate tanking. The tanking speculation was more evident when the New York Mets lost 21 to 3 against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday afternoon. The New York Mets could potentially gain a top drafted player if they finish among the 6th worst records in the league. The Mets have become uncompetitive and nearly unwatchable since the trade deadline. The Met fans, who are paying hard earned money to watch their minor league filled team tank ar...