The NBA’s anti-tanking rules might thwart the Sixers’ buyout dreams

Set aside their ugly loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Cup on Friday, and the Sixers are otherwise having a largely dreamy start to the season. They still sit atop the Eastern Conference at 9-2, and they’ve shown a far higher ceiling on defense than anyone expected this early in the season.

The Sixers have already hit a critical benchmark, too. This is the fifth time in LeBron James’ career that he’s been on a team that started the season 7-1, according to ESPN’s Kris Rhim. All four of the previous teams that he’s done it with made the NBA Finals that season.

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As long as their starting five stays healthy, the Sixers figure to be a preferred landing spot for ring-chasers later this year. They already have one open roster spot, and they could create another one by salary-dumping Justin Edwards ahead of the trade deadline. If Kevin Love is already queued up as one future signing, the Sixers might prefer to have additional flexibility to explore all of their pre- and post-deadline options.

However, the NBA’s new draft-lottery system could impact which players are available on the buyout market.

“Philadelphia would be an attractive destination in the buyout market after the Feb. 11 trade deadline, when the Sixers could squeeze a pro-rated minimum onto their books,” ESPN’s Tim MacMahon wrote Friday. “But several executives around the league wondered how much the new anti-tanking lottery rules will weaken the buyout market.”

The new lottery punishes the teams with the three worst records by giving them lower odds than the other seven teams that miss the play-in tournament. They can fall no lower than No. 12—the other 13 teams can drop as far as No. 16—but they have only a 16 percent chance at a top-three pick, a 28 percent chance at a top-five pick and a 61 percent chance at a top-10 pick. The other non-play-in teams have a 24 percent chance at a top-three pick, a 39 percent chance at a top-five pick and a 73 percent chance at a top-10 pick.

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Publish date : 2026-11-09 18:21:00

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